Suddenly Demonic
by pyrosnightmare
Summary: AU. A young girl from America finds she has powers that makes the things that go bump in the night nervous. Can the YYH boys keep her alive long enough to train her? Will one of the boys fall for her in the process?
1. Chapter 1

Hello, this is my first fic for YYH, because I am lame, and have only started watching this year. Its slightly AU, because the bunnies told me to, and the characters will be a bit OOC, because they wanted to.

Um, one note, when a character speaks, its like "this" and when they do the telepathy thing, its like 'this'. And I apologize in advance for the length. (all the chapters will probably be long.) R&R plz!

I sat on the living room floor between Kurama, and Yusuke, in front of the couch. I like to sit on the floor, they just did it to piss off their friend. They have a weird friendship.

We were laughing at another one of the team, a huge orange haired doofus with a soft spot for cats named Kuwabara. He'd tripped on the cat, who had a penchant for being exactly where he shouldn't be.

"Geeze Pyro, can't you teach your cat to, I dunno, not sleep in the middle of the floor?" Kuwabara complained, trying to not fall.

"Dude, you're the one who wanted to drag the damn thing here!" I laughed harder, beacause the cat decided to attack his foot as well.

Maybe I should start at the beginning...

Hi, I'm Pyro Feochadan*. I'm just a bit over 5 feet tall, I have curves (I love my curves) and long mousy brown hair. I'm told my blue eyes are too curious, and miss no detail I could use later. And I'm a witch with powers.

Its those powers that got me targeted by the things that go bump in the night. I've always had a little bit of a gift of sensing emotions, and being able to do spells beyond my training just from watching someone cast them. Apparently, the things that go bump don't like that second one.

I took a wrong turn on my way home. I did that a lot, because I have a crappy directional sense. (Thank the good and kind gods for the compass.) Anyways, that particular time, I found myself in an alley, trapped by the ugliest guy I have ever seen. He reeked of raw meat. If I hadn't been so freaked out, I may have puked on the guy.

"You can't be allowed to develop those powers, witch." He threw a fireball at me.

That pissed me off. Fire and Spirit are my elements. Nobody is allowed to kill me with my own damn element. So, I ducked, and threw one back at him, because my talent kicked in and I suddenly knew how.

I was either very lucky, or he was very shocked, because he was turned into a pile of ash.

Running footsteps skidded to a halt behind me. I turned, another fireball in my hand, and saw two boys. The taller one had this shock of rose red hair and a wicked-looking whip. The shorter one had black hair, and the most gorgeous blade I have ever had the pleasure of seeing up close.

The whip turned into a rose, and the red head held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "Miss, please, we're not here to hurt you." His English was very good, only a hint of an accent.

"Your friend has a fucking katana aimed at my heart." I said, just a little upset at the way the evening was going.

He didn't look away from me. "Hiei, stop scaring the girl. Something just tried to kill her."

The one he called Hiei didn't waver. "She has a fireball aimed at me."

"Its aimed at you because, while it would be sweet to meet my end on such a gorgeous blade as yours, I really don't want to meet that end tonight." I said with all the attitude I could muster. It was attitude or falling over from the adrenaline rush.

"Hn." Not really much of a response, but at least he sheathed the katana.

I let the fireball go out. "Mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

"Damn, shortie, you didn't have to torch him. He was barely worth a fight." Another male voice came from behind me.

Once again I spun, fireball in hand, because yes, I was that damn jumpy.

The red head jumped in front of me. "No! Those are friends too."

Iglance at the two boys who had just joined us. A black haired boy who looked like he picked fights just because he could, and an orange haired boy who stood at least a head taller than the others. They were all, except for the one with the katana, taller than me.

"Baka ningen onna." Hiei, muttered.

I turned back to glare at him. "I heard that."

"As you can see, Hiei didn't torch the guy, she did. He was already burning before we got here." The soft tones of the red head cut through the tension again, so I turned a little to look at him.

"Introductions please." I sighed, knowing I wouldn't be rid of them any time soon. The shortest one was glaring holes into me. "Stop frikken glaring at me! Your annoyance is making my back tense more."

That earned me a bit of a shocked look. Just a slight widening of his eyes, and he stood a little straighter. He whispered something, but I didn't reply, because his mouth wasn't moving. Mind reading is not one of my natural powers.

I moved so that I could lean my back against the wall and still see all four of them. "Come on, who are you?"

The red head seemed to be the spokesman for the group. "I'm Kurama. The short shocked man over there is Hiei, the loud mouth is Yusuke, and the giant is Kuwabara." Kurama bowed a little instead of offering his hand.

"Thank you. I'm Pyro Feochadan. You're pretty calm, compaired to the absolutely bonkers emotions of your friends. Can I ask you the questions?" I laughed a little. "They just make me nervous."

Hiei jumped on my meaning wrongly. "You can read out minds?"

"No. I can feel your emotions. I'm an empath, who just so happens to be able to throw fire and shield way beyond my training level." I facepalmed. Shields, duh! So I started to mutter the words to set my strongest sheild, just so I could think without sorting through the crazy emotions of the four Japanese men before me. (lets face it, only one culture bows when making introductions.)

The katana was back.

"Relax, homme bete**, I'm just putting up a mental barrier between your feelings and my brain." I sighed. "If I was going to try and kill you, I'd've thrown a fireball long before now."

Hiei put away the katana. "What did you call me?"

"Vous etre un homme bete. Je suis desolee pour la verite.***" I said sweetly. "If you insult me in Japanese, I'll return the favour in French."

A range of chuckles came from the other boys as Hiei growled.

Kurama took my arm. "Miss, there are more of those things prowling around looking for you, this alley is not safe."

I gasped at the crazy flood of emotions and mental images that flowed through his touch. I hadn't expected that. "Ok, not so calm. Just better at keeping it in."

He jumped back like he'd been burned. "My apologies." He bowed again.

"Nah, its chill, fox. Best new experience all day." I laughed and linked arms with him.

We walked to the park, found the most open, but isolated picnic table, and sat around it, in complete silence. Hiei on my left, Kurama on my right, and the other two directly across.

Kurama spoke first, finally giving in to the confusion I knew he felt. "Why did you call me fox? How did you know about that?"

I twiddled my thumbs nervously. "I have powers, you know about the emotions and the ability to learn any spell by observation. Sometimes, more so lately than before, I get pictures of a person's true self if they touch me, or I touch them. Kurama, your picture came through kind of, superimposed. Like, you, as you are right now, overlapped with a guy with silver fox ears and three tails. You must be one hell of an old soul."

"You have no idea." The red head in question muttered under his breath.

"My turn to ask a question. Why did the jackass in the alley smell of raw meat?" I asked.

I could feel something weird trying to get past my shield, something coming from Hiei's direction, so I elbowed him in the ribs. "No poking the shields, dude. You want in, you have to ask."

Yusuke fell backward off the bench.

I jumped to my feet as best I could when hampered by the bench. "Ohmyfuckinggodsareyouok!"

Kuwabara hauled his friend back up on the bench. "He's just shocked. See, nobody ever knows when Hiei tries to read their mind."

"Let me in, onna." I could feel his glare on me again.

"That's not asking, that's a command." I patted his shoulder, just to see how bad I could piss him off. I'm a horrible person, and love to push people's buttons when they're as pissy as Hiei seemed to be.

"Onna..." he growled at me.

I had gotten a mental image. "Oni-san, you know my name, and I'm sure you learned how to be polite from being around Kurama-san for so long." I replied very sweetly.

He just turned his back on me.

I stuck my tongue out at his back. I know, I'm so mature.

"You are very strange, do you have some sort of death wish?" Yusuke laughed.

"Wait, I thought you were American. Why are you using Japanese titles?" Kuwabara looked very confused.

I giggled. "I am American. I also happen to watch a lot of anime, and read a lot of fanfics based on the animes I watch."

Kurama was still making a very strange face at me. "Please do not ever call me Kurama-san again. Only my soul is old. My body isn't much older than you."

"Sorry." I giggled some more.

"What made you call Hiei a demon?" Kurama asked.

I closed my eyes to bring up the image again. "I saw black flames, he has three eyes, and a black flaming dragon of immense power."

While my eyes were still closed, Yusuke reached out and touched my hand.

"Holy Hades!" I scrambled off the bench backwards and kept going till my back hit the tree about five feet away.

"Sorry?" he had his head tilted in questioning.

"Fucking hell, you're dead! Twice!" I gulped and kept myself against the tree, since it was the only thing holding me up in my shock. "You're why I keep smelling that weird funeral home smell!"

Kurama very gently held my hand and led me back to the table. "He's still one of the good guys, and he's not going to harm you. You have my word, no one at this table will let you be harmed."

I took my seat. "My apologies, Yusuke. You rather shocked me." I let out a shaky breath and tried to calm down.

"My fault, I was trying to see if you could catch something projected to you." Yusuke grinned.

Hiei's glare came back. 'He gets in without asking, and I can't.' I heard him, but his mouth wasn't moving.

"Dude! You're pouting in my head! That's really weird." I started laughing.

"Let me in... please." Hiei bit the please like it was the most offensive word ever created.

"Ok, you can go in my head. Don't get lost." I dropped my shields. "and for the record, Yusuke was not in my head, he was projecting a thought and I picked it up."

Hiei undid the bandana covering his forehead. The third eye was real. It opened, and then immediately snapped shut. "Woman, you are sick!"

"Hey, you wanted to go poking around my brain. Didn't wanna wait for the warnings, like, I think nasty thoughts." I shrugged.

'Can you not think like that while I'm in here?' There he went with the talking like a ventriloquist. I like ventriloquists, it just weird without the dummy.

"Why, did you see something you liked too much, oni-san?" I teased.

"Do I want to ask?" Yusuke folded his hands behind his head and laughed.

"I'll tell you later. I'm trying to be nice to the dragon while he's in my head." I winked.

"Kuwabara, touch Pyro's hand while Hiei can watch her thoughts. Maybe he can see where the talent comes from." Kurama instructed.

I had my hands resting on the table. They twitched slightly, because of the very ticklish sensation of someone else in my head. Kuwabara laid his hand over both of mine.

"Wow, that is a neat power. I'm glad you weren't first on scene." I said.

"Thanks." He blushed a little. "Hiei says my sword is lame."

"She's human." Hiei stated, tying his bandana over the eye in his forehead again.

"Duh. I'm just a witch." I laughed.

"And your past life was a witch, and the life before that was a witch. The life before that, you were a demon, with the same powers you have right now." Hiei said, no hint of emotion, though I could sense a mild amusement from him.

"You got all that out of my head? No way!" I was thoroughly shocked.

"Its in everyone's head if you know where to look." Hiei shrugged.

"Reincarnations are trippy." I giggled.

"Kurama knew the demon." His voice was flat, and a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. The thought he projected was, kinky.

I slammed my shields down as fast and tight as possible. "Play time in Witchy Brain Land is officially over." I knew I was blushing, so I ducked my head and hid behind my hair.

"What did you find?" Kurama fairly reeked of eager curiosity.

"The demon she was. Purple hair, purple eyes, curves in all the right places... stayed in your lair a lot..." Hiei's smirk was audible.

I glanced over at Kurama just in time to see him blush the colour of his hair.

"Oh, um, Lotus. Yes, I, ahem, knew her." Kurama turned away.

"Crap!" I wailed and let my head hit the table. The thump was loud and it hurt.

"You know something?" Yusuke exuded a curiosity that made me think meeting them was not coincidence.

"Hiei opened her box! I just got her locked back in there! Oh this is going to be a long damn night." I hit my head on the table again, cursing myself for not telling him about that.

I could feel Kurama's hand hover over my shoulder, like he wasn't sure if he should offer the comfort of a touch. " Go with your second thought and don't touch me." I said, not moving my head from the table.

I was saved by the ringing of a phone. Everyone except Hiei fished a phone out of a pocket.

Yusuke held a hushed conversation, then hung up. "Bossy butt says he'll have our ride out in thirty seconds, and don't dawdle, they found us again."

A hole in the fabric of space-time opened two feet from the table. I didn't have time to protest before I found myself slung over Hiei's shoulder and taken down the rabbit hole.

*Feochadan- foe-ka-dan. Thistle in gaelic. It comes up again later.

**stupid man

*** translation: you are a stupid man, I am sorry for that truth.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey lovelies, back with another chapter. I've been on vacation in an apartment with no internet access unless I hike down to the local mickey d's. But I was very encouraged by the numbers for the first chapter, so, if just one of y'all could drop me a line and tell me how bad I suck, i'd love it very much.

Oh! and the disclaimer, which I forgot. Don't own YYH, or the characters thereof. The only thing I own is the plot and pyro, k? On to the fic...

The rabbit hole opened up near this very Japanese castle looking building, kinda like the pictures I'd seen in history class of the Forbidden City, but friendlier somehow. We walked inside, down a hall and through a roomful of loincloth-clad multi-coloured beings before stopping at another door.

Yusuke paused with his hand on the door. "Look, I don't know what form he's decided to take today, so don't be surprised if you have to talk business with a toddler, ok?"

"Trust me, after today, nothing can surprise me anymore. Lead on, zombie." I sighed. I piched the bridge of my nose to hold off the headache threatening to break.

The door opened to reveal a teenage boy sucking a pacifier standing next to a way oversize desk. He saw me and seemed to smile. "Ah, you're here. I am Koenma, ruler of Spirit World, um, what you would call the afterlife."

I looked at him a moment. "So you're, like, another face of Hades then?"

His eyes widened slightly. "That is what they call me in Greece. You're more adaptable than your report suggests."

"Ok, so I'm in Hades, talking to Hades, and I'm still alive. I'm good with that." I nodded once, to settle the info in my head. Not many people get to visit Hades and live to tell the tale. I just hoped I wouldn't have an Orpheus-like ordeal. Wait, afterlife... "Please don't tell me its time for me to visit the Goddess in the Summerland already."

"No, she's not asked for you yet. You still have some things to do." The teen god winked at me. "Now, I'll assume that Hiei found something important in your head, based on Kurama's reluctance to be very near you."

Kurama was, in fact, leaning against a wall on the complete opposite side of the room. At Koenma's words, Kurama and I shared a glance, then turned away and stayed silent. On my part it was just to keep the memory Hiei had found out of my conscious thoughts.

Hiei stepped forward, obviously reveling in his revenge on me. "She is an incarnation of the demon Lotus. The fox was well acquainted with her."

"I can feel you smirking oni-san. I'd be careful continuing this revenge." I growled.

"That would explain Kurama's behaviour." Koenma coughed and looked slightly uncomfortable. "Pyro, you have the benefit of going through two lives and a mental blockade between that time and now. For Kurama, the wound is a bit more open."

"Still, Hiei didn't have to bring it up in such detail." I glared at the three-eyed demon. That damn oni would definitely be getting an earful later.

"Now, that said, you are the first of her subsequent lives to posess her full powers. That you were able to mimic a demon's attack is evidence enough to this fact." Koenma continued.

"Ok, so, the bitch could mimic. I really don't like her, I've had some conversations with her, she's taken over once or twice, and I really hated the way she treated people. I've got control, and locked her away in a box in my head. She likes to do things I just can't do, no matter who has control of my body at the time." I said. Things were beginning to make sense now.

"Lotus had the Empathic gift as well. She seemed to feed on forcing people to feel things." Kurama said softly. He didn't look up, just stared at the floor.

"I modified that power in this human incarnation." Koenma sounded pleased with himself.

"You're the one who made it so that I feel other people's emotions instead of just sensing them? I hate you most of the time." I said in as flat a tone as I could manage.

"Hate me if you must, but it was necessary to keep the demon part of you in check." Koenma sat in the oversize chair behind the desk and started shuffling papers. "As is the measures you are about to be taking. We have set up a temporary safe house for you in the less populated middle of your homestate. You and the detectives will hole up there until it is safe to move you to our main safehouse. You may not go near your human friends and family."

Yusuke opened the manila folder held out by the god.

"Just how long do I have to abandon them for? Can I tell them anything?" I yelled in shock. I almost went to throttle the god at the desk, but restrained myself.

"A year at the very least. We have a decent cover story for you, its in Yusuke's folder." Koenma said.

"You are getting called out on a field writing trip. You're going to be training at a remote temple in Japan and writing about the experience as a novel." He grinned. "We get to go home for this job guys!"

"Not until Yukina, Botan and Genkai let me know it is secure again. That demon invasion last year did a number on the protections there." Koenma said, then dismissed us.

I was allowed to collect what I would need before getting basically locked in a house with three demons and one rather odd human. My apartment was first, then my parent's house, to collect the rest of my things, as I had been in the process of moving out.

That's where Kuwabara met Mittens, my cat. The silly beast was named for the cat in Bolt, because he looks just like her.

"You can't just leave him here! Aren't you supposed to be watching him for your parents?" Kuwabara protested.

"Dude, he's a cat. He'll be just fine. The food and water dishes are filled, and will last at least a week." I sighed. I already wanted to curse the god what made me have to deal with these people.

Kurama walked in with Mitten's plastic carrier. "Stop, Pyro, you won't win the argument. The oaf has a huge soft spot for cats. Now, this is his carrier, correct?"

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nosed as I nodded in the affirmative. Gods, this is shaping up to be a long year ahead.

Which brings us up to where I started this story, two days and countless trips over the cat.

"Baka ningen." I heard Hiei's snide remark coming from the window. He seemed to have a strange penchant for sitting in windows, like he couldn't decide if he wanted to be in or out.

I rolled my eyes.

"What, you disagree?" Hiei asked. It was the most he'd said to me since Koenma's office.

I tapped my forehead. "Vous-etre folle, mon amie.*"

Kurama snickered behind the minimal cover of his hand.

"Comprend-toi?**" I was a little excited that I wouldn't have to translate to have at least one person laugh with me.

The red head pinched the air with his thumb and forefinger. "Un petit pou***. I took a year or two as an elective."

"Really? I took three semesters as a requisite for college. Its fun to swear in, n'est-ce pas?****"

Hiei was glaring at me again. It seemed to be a hobby of his.

I refused to meet his glare this time, staring contests with him were almost as boring as a staring contest with the cat. "I can feel you trying to get at Lotus again. Do I need to send that thought from the other day, and expand on it?"

I looked up in time to see him go a little rigid and his eyes widen slightly. "You wouldn't!"

"I so very much would. I really don't want the bitch to get out." I smiled sweetly.

Yusuke shoulder bumped me. "You never did tell me what it was that got three-eyes' boxers in a bunch like that."

I stood and turned to the black-haired demon. "Could you accompany me to the store? I'm going either way, because Kurama's a freaking health nut and didn't get any caffine." I winked to tell him I'd spill on the way.

"Those chemicals are no good for your mind or body." Kurama stated flatly. His arms were crossed, and he overflowed with disapproval.

"I'm an addict hun, withdrawal is not pleasant, and I won't quit cold turkey if I have to deal with the king of evil glares over there." I replied, crossing my arms and meeting his disapproval with my current level of discomfort. It was a dirty trick to pull, but I wasn't in my right mind because of the withdrawal.

Kurama pinched the bridge of his nose. "You'll have to quit eventually."

We got halfway to the store before I spoke. "You have to swear you won't breathe a word of this to anyone."

"Of course." Yusuke grinned.

"I'm serious. You tell and I'll let Lotus rip off your arm and shove it up your ass." I hissed, so I wouldn't get the cops called out for terroristic threatening.

"Ouch, ok, I swear." He laughed a little, to cover up the small tremor of fear.

I took a deep breath, to keep myself from giggling at the big tough guy afraid of little old me. "I had a little mental image of Hiei, and Kurama, and Kurama's wicked whip..."

Yusuke arched an eyebrow at me.

I blushed a little. "Hiei was tied up..."

The shocked look I got for that was priceless. "You are sick, woman! Those two are more like brothers than anything."

"Well, he wasn't being very nice, and I can't help it if my mind makes up scenarios to punish people who are mean to me. Its not like I wanted him to see it, or even that I thought it would ever happen!" I protested. The argument was suspended while we went into the store.

Back at the safehouse, we walked in on a fight about to get very messy. Hiei and Kurama were fighting, and the anger in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Judgin from Yusuke's shock, I figured this was completely out of character for both of them, to fight this viciously.

I saw Hiei call up a black fire and ran to break them apart.

Evil cliffie, I know.

*you are crazy my friend. Feminine spelling and pronunciation, as an insult. I use it all the time.

**you understand?

***a little bit

****isn't it so, or is it not


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, time to resolve the cliffie. Sorry, just trying to keep the chapters roughly the same length, and keep y'all coming back. Anyways, the usual disclaimer, don't own, don't sue, don't steal pyro. Reviews welcome.

thank you soooo much for the reviews! and favouriting me! and yes, i think it may be rushed, but its the way they wanted it to be. don't worry, it'll slow down in a bit. (this chapter's a lot of dialog)

* * *

Hiei growled. "Onna, move."

I glared at him. "You are not roasting your friend in the living room! Now get rid of the fire and calm the fuck down, or you fight me."

Yusuke marched Kurama out of the room while I stared down the fire demon.

"I'm warning you witch, this is not your fight." Hiei's growl lost some of the rage of the first one.

I got in his face. "Stand down oni-san. Talk to me, I can help."

"I don't talk."

"And Yusuke said you don't trade embarrassment for embarrassment either, that a year or so ago you'd have just killed me. So, speak. Why were you about to roast Kurama?"

Hiei refused to look me in the eye.

I started dropping my mental shields, to talk to him mind to mind. I had the basic idea. 'Hiei...'

His eyes flashed a brilliant crimson before settling back to their normal rust colour. 'He was speaking badly of you.'

Yay progress! 'What did he say about me that set you off like that? You barely know me.'

'He said you were just hiding your true intent and that you were waiting to gain our trust before you let the demon have her way with us all.' He finally looked me in the eye. 'He hasn't been in your head.'

I closed my eyes to banish the memory he brought up. "And you have. Thank you for defending my honour Hiei, it means a lot to me that you would stand up for me." I bowed slightly, then winked at him. "Talking's better than having to live with the memory of roasting your friend over some baka ningen onna, neh?"

* * *

He shrugged, then disappeared. One of these days I'd figure out how he did that.

I found Yusuke yelling at Kurama in the yard. I coughed to get their attention. "Kurama, a word please?" My words were polite, but my voice implied that compliance was mandatory.

Yusuke jogged over. "Talk to him out here, I'm gonna go find shortie."

"Actually, you should find Kuwabara, make sure they didn't accidentally kill him during their fight." I said. 'Hiei doesn't want to be found right now. I made him uncomfortable.'

Kurama sat on the grass under the big maple tree.

I sat near him, but in the shade. Did I mention that I'm a fair celtic lass and burn in naught point five seconds? Yeah, I do.

"Hiei actually spoke to you?" Kurama asked, plucking at the grass in front of him.

"Yeah, that was harsh man. I thought we were getting on better than that." I fiddled with a twig I'd found beside me.

"You're projecting your anger at me. Lotus did that a lot when she thought I'd screwed up." He stared at the grass, letting his feelings of hurt and anger wash over him.

"There's a big difference between me and that bitch, and if you'd get your head out of your ass, you'd know it was betrayal, not anger. But, since you knew her better than you know me, you assume I'm angry, when I'm really hurt." I threw the twig at him.

He flinched a little when it got caught in his hair.

"You're an asshole, Kurama." I said quietly.

Suddenly I had his full attention. "Excuse me?"

"You're an asshole. You think I want to inflict myself on you guys? I would so much rather be at home, doing my little blurb for the paper and being somewhat slightly normal. Y'all make it so much harder for me to keep her in, she wants to hurt you, and I can't do that. Talk to Hiei this time, ask him how tight a lockdown I have her in."

"I'm sorry. When he described her, it all just came rushing back. Lotus was brilliant, but very evil. At times I couldn't be sure if my emotions were truly mine or if they were something she did." Kurama ducked his head and hid is face behind his hair.

"For what its worth, I'm sorry about the bitch. The last time she got out, she nearly got me killed." I leaned forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"So you really don't want her out, its not just a show." Kurama looked up at me with a very shocked look on his face.

"No. Hiei saw that memory too, he was actually dwelling on it when I spoke to him earlier."

He hesitated, as if he was unsure if he should offer comfort.

I hugged him. And he actually hugged me back. Kinda shocking, considering the rest of my day.

"We found the idiot." Hiei's voice came from the branches above.

Kurama jumped and looked up. "How long have you been up there?" He scooted away from me a little more.

"Long enough. Kurama, for an intelligent demon, you really are an idiot." Hiei said, jumping down lower so we could see him.

"No, he's just scarred from his dealings with her. Emotions are delicate, and when someone screws with them, it takes a long time to get over it." I offered the red head a small smile. "The bitch was nothing if not thorough in her evil."

Hiei chose then to turn his red eyes on me. "Onna, the baka who hurt you the last time, where is he now?"

I sighed and slumped. I really did not want to deal with that memory just then. "You're sweet, but I neither know nor do I care where that fucktard hangs his hat. For all I know or care, he's dead."

"I will eventually find him." Hiei growled and disappeared once again.

Kurama chuckled. "He really will. And beat the unfortunate man to within an inch of his last breath."

"And how is that funny? I don't like the guy, but I also don't want to be the cause of his demise." I glared at the red head.

"Hiei can't kill him, its against our laws. Its funny because he likes you enough to make that vow." Kurama chuckled a bit more.

A plastic fork flew out of nowhere and landed, tines first, just beyond Kurama's fingers.

* * *

The next few weeks were, well, kinda bland. I trained a bit with the guys, but only just a bit of physical training. They wanted me to focus on my powers, and actually learning to use them beyond the basics. And when Hiei wasn't playing reluctant sensei, I watched movies and hung out with the others.

Hiei didn't want to teach me, but he was the only one who could actively poke around in someone's mind, so they elected him. He was ok, but he had a fondness for being up a tree for lessons.

We were in his favourite tree when the other demons found us again. I was on a lower branch, because I wasn't as practiced at climbing trees as I once was. I was wedged in a fork of the branch, so that I could lean back to look at Hiei without worrying too much about falling.

"Why are we doing this?" I asked during one of the rare breaks he granted me. "Your Jagan can't even help you get past my shields, and that's without training."

"That would be why. If I can't get in, you also cannot get out to learn an ability during a battle." He gave me a strange look.

"Instead, I drop my shields and get blitzed by emotions. Now I get it." I swung my feet a little, trying not to shake the branch too much.

"You just now thought to ask? Its been three weeks."

"I was actually enjoying your company too much, and the time away from the rest of your little demon police group." I blushed and hoped to Hades he didn't see it.

"Onna, you're projecting again."

I squinted up at him, damn demon loved to have the sun at his back. "Is that what you're gonna call me the whole year? I mean, I do have a name."

"It is what I will call you when you annoy me."

"You're always annoyed, Hiei."

"Then, yes, onna will be what I call you most of the time." He actually laughed.

"Hiei, do you trust me?" I asked, then clapped my hands over my mouth and wished I hadn't said that. It was one thing to be paranoid and notice the others sneaking glances at me when they thought I wasn't looking. It was another thing entirely to question the only guy in the bunch who was willing to be alone with me.

"Does this have something to do with the fox?" He was in front of me so fast I nearly fell, but he caught me.

"All of them really. They won't be alone in a room with me, or I'll catch them watching me when they think I'm not paying attention, like they're expecting her to suddenly take over or something."

"Its because Yoko is so unpredictable. He and the Kurama you know are the same, not a reincarnation, he melded his soul into the infant on purpose, to hide." Here Hiei paused and switched to telepathy. 'He tends to pull sudden takeovers when Kurama is angered or if he's... um... in heat.'

'That's why my mental image got to you? Holy Hell, Yusuke figured it was just because you and the fox are like brothers.' I giggled.

'Yes, we tried, we failed.' He glared at me. "Stop that you twisted thing."

To my shock, the dragon didn't run off like he usually did when things got personal. I considered it a win for me, since getting personal, or getting in past his shields generally ended my lessons and saw me looking at the spot Hiei had just vanished from in confusion. I felt like doing a happy bounce.

"I swear if you start jumping around I will let you fall off this branch." Hiei's mild growl cut my thoughts off.

"Bull shit, Hiei." I grinned at him.

He smirked back. "Are you sure about that, onna?"

"Honey, you almost killed Mittens yesterday when he attacked my foot!" I giggled.

He looked away and mumbled, "That damn cat has a death wish."

"Thank you." I touched his arm to get him to look at me again.

"For what? Not killing the beast?"

"For not running away when we hit a touchy subject like you usually do."

He opened his mouth to say something, but got interrupted by an explosion that rocked the tree.

* * *

Another evil cliffie, I know. Reviews will make me type faster.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello lovelies. Now, because I am somewhat lazy, I shall be stealing a trick some of my fave writers on here tend to pull and answer your reviews in the author notes. I apologize if I neglect anyone. (117 hits at last check) And in this chapter, Lotus starts talking. Her talking is like ::this::

No name 128- {bows} I apologize for my rusty as heck french. I can revise the chapters that are messy if you would be so kind as to point out my mistakes. (I really did take three semesters of french in college, but I've had no practice since)

white rose fox- you are too kind dear.

xXxPrinceTypexXx- thank you, and here ya go, next chapter.

* * *

I fell from my perch and had just enough presence of mind to tuck and roll like the boys had taught me. Yusuke's idea, since Hiei was teaching me, and he spent a lot of time in high places, so, naturally, it was decided I would learn how to fall.

Hiei landed on the ground beside me. "I should have let you fall earlier."

Yusuke ran out the back door, closely followed by Kuwabara and Kurama. "What the hell were you two doing out here?" the zombie asked.

"It wasn't me!" I held up my hands in surrender.

Just then a voice singsonged through the yard. "Lotus. Lotus, I know you're here you little whore, come on out so we can dance again."

"Damn," Kuwabara cursed, "I knew it was too quiet around here."

Several demons landed, cutting Hiei and I off from all exits. The tallest, and arguably the prettiest ugly demon in the bunch, started toward me. "There you are. Come on out so we can play, Lotus."

Hiei shoved me behind him with a mental command of, 'Pretend you're clueless, onna. Let us handle this.'

The advancing demon stopped and laughed. "Up to your old tricks again, I see. Last time it was the fox who got in between us."

"What the fuck are you talking about? You got the wrong girl. Who the hell are you?" I babbled. If I was gonna be clueless, I was gonna go all-out. I held onto Hiei's shirt and peeked over his shoulder like I was scared. Not a hard act, I was scared witless of this thing, and it was all Lotus' fault.

To everyone's surprise, the answer to his identity came, not from the demon in question, but from the fox. "He is Niroth, Lotus' murderer. Yoko wants to thank him for that." Kurama's voice sounded two-layered and strained, like he was barely holding something back.

"And what about Suichi, the little boy playing at being a hero, what does he have to say?" Niroth laughed, dismissing the fox completely.

Kurama snapped his whip. "I can't let you hurt the girl. She is not the demon you fear." His voice had gone back to normal.

Niroth laughed again, apparently we were hilarious to him. "You couldn't stop me the day I killed the demon bitch, what makes you think you can keep me from killing the human?"

Kurama flashed me a guilty look, then spoke. "I wasn't actually trying that day."

::I'll kill that mangy bastard!:: Lotus' scream blocked out the rest of Kurama's declaration. I tried hard to make her shut up, I could not afford to be distracted by the bitch now.

"I think I'll let her new toy show me what he's worth. You can play with my bodyguards, fox." Niroth growled, turning his glare on Hiei.

Hiei threw off the baggy outer shirt he'd been wearing, baring his arms and black tank, at the same time he drew his sword.

"Hiei, the great master of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, defending a human woman. My, the world must be ending." Niroth sneered.

"I'm merely surprised that a coward like you actually attacked when the girl has more than one bodyguard." Hiei struck before he even finished talking.

Sword and claws clashed in a blur of movement. The flurry of blows was followed by a pause, as the demon bent on killing me _again_ wiped the blood from a wound over his eye. "You really seem to be serious about the girl's safety."

Hiei deftly blocked the sneak attack with his katana.

What happened in their fight after that I couldn't say. Vines lifted me into the tree at a dizzying speed. I mentally screamed my frustration at Kurama, because the vines were English Ivy, but they smelled of fur and roses.

'Baka ningen onna, just shut up and burn anything that comes up there that isn't one of the four of us protecting you.' His calm mental voice made me angrier.

Dammit, I was no damn damsel in distress, I could fight. But noooooo. Those damn vines would tighten and multiply every time I tried to break free. Then I looked toward the house and figured out why this tree was Hiei's favourite. I had a perfect unobscured view into the window of my room. I filed that away to add to the list of what I had to bitch out the boys for later.

A small imp-like creature scurried along the branch toward me. I thought it was kinda cute, in a demon-dog internet picture kind of way. That is, until it pulled a blade on me. The blade looked like some kind of bug mandible or stinger, unpleasant either way.

Then it gained friends. I started flicking flames as fast as they appeared, but they just kept coming. One managed to get past my defenses and sliced the back of my right calf from knee to ankle. I screamed. Unpleasant had been an understatement in my original description.

I was still screaming when all the imps around me burst into black flames. The pain was alternately burning and stabbing in time to my heartbeats. The ivy that had held me up there now formed a kind of tourniquet on my leg and brought me back down to the ground.

I never touched the ground. Hiei caught me and carried me into the house to put a proper bandage on it till we could get me to hospital. Worry rolled off him in waves.

* * *

Telepathy is a handy dandy thing to have when creating a cover story. Hiei wouldn't let anyone near me at the house. He barely let the EMT's do their job when they arrived. So I thought of something very quickly to explain his overprotective behavior, and hoped to all the gods he wouldn't kill me for it later.

"Can he ride to the hospital with me?" I asked before the doors shut.

"Only family ma'am." the one riding in the back replied.

"He's my fiancee, and he's so upset, he'll get in a wreck if he has to drive himself." I gushed, playing it up. Gods I should try out for movies.

The EMT just waved Hiei into the ambulance.

Hiei sat and held my hand like one would expect a worried fiancee to do. 'Fiancee? Really?'

'Shut up, I got you in here didn't I? Just play along with my cover story, we don't need human cops involved.' I gave him a small pained smile, like I was expected to. "I shoulda listened to you about gros grandpere's sword, honey."

"Shh, just be still until we get to the hospital, dear." Hiei said.

By the time we got into the exam room, we had the whole story perfect. So when the doctor asked how the hell I got sliced so bad, I just started babbling about gros grandpere's* Knights of Columbus sword being hung wrong.

"Sweetie, its not the display board's fault you kicked the wall during that last kata you did." Hiei teased.

"It would have stayed up if I'd put in the extra staples like grandpere** told me to." I replied.

"Well, lucky for you it wasn't all that sharp anymore, just a shallow cut, you'll need stitches. I'll be back with the suture cart." The doc stood and walked toward the door. Once there, he turned and glared at Hiei.

Hiei leaned over and kissed my forehead. "I told you it would be fine you silly girl. Overreacting about a little accident again."

"I just hate it that they all think you did it dear." I smiled up at him.

The doc shook his head and left.

* * *

They put me in bed as soon as I got back, and kept me there for two whole days. I was drugged most of the time on the scrip for painkillers, so the claustrophobia didn't kick in too fast. Hiei kicked everyone else out and insisted he was responsible for my injury and my care while I healed. And he hardly left the room, like he thought I'd be attacked again.

The morning of the third day I woke without him noticing, and got to be blissfully clearheaded for the first time since the incident. "Hiei, you can stop with your guilt trip now. Its not your fault I got hurt."

He jumped a little at the sound of my voice. "It is my fault, I spent far too much time toying with that scum, instead of doing my job and eliminating the threat." He punched the wall beside the window and left a single crack.

"Meh, you did what you had to. And what you had to do was fake out the bastard and make him think you'd be a pushover like Kurama." I patted the bed beside me as an invite for him to sit. It didn't take an empath to know he wanted to be closer.

He sat. "I did thank him before I killed him. If he had not killed Lotus, we would not have the experience of protecting you." He looked anywhere in the room but at me, and a small amount of nervous escaped him.

"Oh my dear gods, the dragon is being sweet!" I nudged him with my knee and instantly regretted it. I moved the wrong one, and it hurt.

He held me close so fast it made me dizzy. "Perhaps I shouldn't be sweet anymore."

I slapped his shoulder playfully. "Oh! I know about your little peeping tom perch out there." I glared at him.

A look of confusion crossed the fire demon's features.

"You're such a pervert Hiei. That tree has a perfect view in my window."

"I watch you sleep. That's it. I don't even go up the tree till 10 minutes after your light goes out, by then you're always in bed and completely covered. Then I watch till I get tired and go inside to my own room."

"You have never watched me dress? Not even once?"

"Not even once. Its not for me to watch."

"Hiei, can I please leave this room? If I stay here much longer, I'm going to go nuts." I gave him my best begging puppy look. Which, admittedly, sucked because of my blue eyes.

He moved to pick me up.

"I have crutches so that you don't have to carry me, oni-san." I pointed at the sticks in question by the door.

"I do need to carry you down the stairs. Your balance is crap on those sticks." He lifted me in a fireman's carry.

I giggled and grabbed the crutches on the way out.

* * *

Sorry for my lateness! I fully blame the eclipse and christmas. (it has nothing to do with the boredom of typing what I wrote by hand, no, not at all.)

*gros grandpere- great grandfather

**grandpere- grandfather


	5. Chapter 5

Hello, I think I'm late on this update again. Got discouraged by the lack of numbers since the last update. Someone review! Please! Even if its just to say I'm horrible and rush around too much. (honestly, the day to day stuff is kinda boring.)

* * *

"Holy crap, she lives!" Yusuke shouted as a greeting. "How'd you finally get him to let you out?"

I hobbled the rest of the way into the kitchen. "Oh, just the threat of me going batty from any more forced isolation."

Yusuke pulled the orange juice out of the fridge. "And that would let out the demon, which would make it so that he'd have to kill you, which would be bad for all of us." He started the motion of drinking from the carton.

I reached out and snagged it, dropping a crutch in the process. "Be civilized, cochon." I sat the carton on the counter and retrieved my crutch without dropping myself. I was so proud of me, it was worth the glare from Hiei.

Kurama chuckled in his polite way. I assumed it was the confused look on Yusuke's face.

"What did she call me? It can't be good." Yusuke demanded of his red haired friend.

Kurama just grinned and shook his head.

The detective turned on his small black haired friend. "You spend a lot of time in her head, Hiei, what did she call me?"

Hiei shrugged, and gave me a little smirk. So he had been sneaking around in there while I was sleeping.

I pushed up the end of my nose and oinked, to let him know what I called him. Then I giggled.

"Bitch," the detective muttered under his breath. He went to the cabinet by the sink and pulled out a glass.

I hopped myself around to face the cabinets over the counter I'd been leaning on. "That's Miz Bitch to you, Zombie." I said while pulling out a bowl and cereal. I refused to have rice balls and whatever the slimy-looking stuff Kurama was cooking up. I'd be eating enough of their odd breakfast choices when we got to the temple.

Hiei snagged both from me and had them on the table before I could even let out an indignant yelp. "Come sit down, get off your feet."

"Jerk, I'm not broken. Hell, Kurama winces every time he moves, and Yusuke fairly radiates pain. All I've got is a slice, a shallow one, down my leg. Kuwabara's probably worse off than me." I glared at the fire demon, daring him to force me to do as he said.

"Did you not hear the doctor's orders, onna?" Hiei glared right back.

"I refused to be coddled because you feel guilty!" I yelled. He was pissing me off.

"I don't feel guilty, I'm just scared!" Hiei yelled right back.

The shocked gasps of the other two demons in the room sent him running out. My shock kept me wide eyed and stupid. I tried to take a step after him and had to clutch the counter to stop my fall.

Kurama slid one of the stools behind me and helped me sit. Then he slid me and the stool over to the island in the middle of the kitchen.

I hit my head on the counter once the motion stopped. "Gods, I fucked that shit up."

"Actually, that was really good. Does he run off like that when the two of you are alone?" Kurama took the stool next to me.

"He used to. The day of the fight was the first time he stayed for a touchy subject. We'd've been on it for a while if that demon hadn't dropped by to play." I turned my head and looked at him.

"He's not exactly, um, forthright, like that with us," the fox explained.

Hiei walked back in. "You need to take your medicines." Two pills were offered to me in the palm of his hand.

I knew which was which from a long-time habit of being a klutz, so I popped the anti biotic in my mouth. The pain killer was snapped in half, one half went in my mouth, the other went back in Hiei's hand.

Yusuke slid a new glass of OJ across the counter to me, then walked out the back door.

Hiei glared as I swallowed.

"I won't take the full dose anymore. Do you know how addictive that stuff is to humans? And besides," I gave the fire demon a wink, "with only half a dose, you won't have to worry about me over exerting myself anymore."

"Hn." The fire demon turned and walked out.

"I heard that, oni-san!"

* * *

its a short chapter, and I'm sorry for that. But at least its a chapter. More to come, and faster this time, I promise. Reviews will speed up the process. (wink wink nudge nudge) over 160 hits, and no reviews since chapter 3 is very disheartening.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks sooooo much to White Rose Fox! I always love to see your reviews, they make me feel awesome. Now, can I have a few more reviews from other readers please? I know I ask a lot, but really, I feel more motivated to type if I know its being read.

Random disclaimer time: I do not now, nor have I ever owned Yu Yu Hakusho. Now that I am reminded of that, I will go be sad and borrow the characters again to play with...

* * *

Kurama sat with me during breakfast. It was odd to me, because he usually avoided being alone with me like the plague. I held my tongue as long as I could, then blurted, "Dude, we're alone. What's your excuse to leave gonna be this time?"

He sputtered on the tea he'd just taken a sip of. "Pardon?"

I giggled and passed him a napkin. "You always make some lame excuse so that you and I are never alone together. So, what's it gonna be this time? Calling your mom at midnight?"

"I really said that?" Kurama blushed.

"Not exactly. You said you had to call your mom, when it would have been close to midnight in Japan. You're brilliant, so it was a bit flimsy at best."

"My apologies. I didn't realize you knew the time zone differences."

"Gah, an insult within an apology. You're awesome Kurama." I rolled my eyes.

"I forget I'm dealing with a woman who thinks like a man." Kurama shrugged. The gleam in his eye gave up the game.

"You're trying to work me up and its not going to work. She is not allowed out. Does Yoko talk to you a lot?" I decided a change of subject was in order.

"Kind of. We are technically the same person." Kurama chuckled a little.

"You know what I mean. Does the demon part want things the human part can't or won't do?"

"Like the way I've been barely keeping the demon part of me restrained so I don't kill you? Yeah." He actually blushed.

I was sure I paled more than my usual Celtic ghostliness. "So if there's witnesses I get to live?"

He smiled at my squeak. "Hiei sat me as my demon self down and had a very pointed conversation."

That got my full attention. "Pointed? Like at the end of a katana?"

"Not at first... lets just say both halves of me are now in accord. Our lovely Pyro is most definitely not Lotus."

I fidgeted with my spoon. "C-Can I see your demon side? You don't have to change, just call up an image and let me touch your arm."

A mist rose up around Kurama, blocking all but his general outline from view. The mist stretched taller and I could see the shape of tails flicking about.

Once the mist cleared, a devastatingly handsome man with silver hair, fox ears, and tails stood before me. "Hello there handsome." I grinned at him.

He flicked his tails and smiled back. "Hello yourself beautiful."

"Such a flirt. I apologize for my past self's treatment of you."

He waved his hand, as if to brush off the need for an apology. "That life is long since over, Pyro, and you protect us, who have given you no cause to even trust us." He reached over and patted my hair like I was a cat.

"Yoko, remove your hand from the girl." Hiei growled from the doorway.

"Relax, Jaganshi, I will not harm the kitten who holds back the lioness." Yoko continued to pet me, so I purred.

Both demons gave me an unreadable look.

I shrugged. "You don't live with cats your whole life and not pick some mannerisms up." I gave a small 'mew' to prove my point.

"I think I'll let my human side deal with you for the rest of the time you're medicated." Yoko mumbled. The mist rose again, but this time it revealed the red head I knew as Kurama.

"Ok, where the hell did you boys put Mittens?"

Kuwabara walked in just as I asked after the cat. "I, uh, kinda... lost him." The tall man's words were almost whispered by the time he was finished speaking.

"You lost my cat?" I didn't raise my voice, but my shock and annoyance came through.

"It wasn't on purpose. He must have ran out when we had the door open during the fight. I looked everywhere for him. I even had Hiei use his third eye. When I found him, he was flat in a gutter." Kuwabara bent nearly double in a low bow, with his hands clasped together over his head. "Please forgive my negligence in the care of your precious kitty."

I almost laughed. Almost. "Its ok, Kuwabara. I never did like the stupid beast. Its kind of fitting though. He was born on the streets, and he died on the streets."

"You're not mad? Urameshi said you'd be furious." Kuwabara straightened and scratched the back of his head.

"Nah, man. Hell, I laughed when Hiei almost decapitated the beast last week." I winked at the orange haired man.

Kuwabara gave Hiei a scandalized look. "But he was just a harmless little cat."

Hiei shrugged. "Hn, the beast attacked her."

I giggled at the memory. "Oh my gods, you two should have seen it. Mittens LICKED Hiei's katana!"

Kurama touched my hand. "Try and show me."

I sent a nervous look in Hiei's direction.

"Just like we practiced, in the tree." Hiei nodded once. It wasn't much, but more encouragement than most people ever got out of the dragon.

I reached over and touched Kuwabara's hand as well. "Might as well fail big time if I'm gonna fail at all." I said. Then I closed my eyes and let the memory out.

Kuwabara fell down laughing.

Kurama actually let out a real laugh. It was a nicer, more real sound than his usual polite chuckle.

I winked at Hiei. "Forgot how funny the look on your face was Oni-san."

Hiei just shrugged. "That cat was too stupid to know fear."

Kurama patted my hand. "Thank you for that Pyro-chan, I needed that laugh."

I smiled at the red head. "No, thank you, Kurama-kun, for letting me use you as a guinea pig."

"Why is he Kurama-kun, but I'm always Oni-san?" Hiei's pout-laden voice only added to Kuwabara's laughter.

"I only call you Oni-san when you act like a dick, my dear, sweet Hiei." I said in a sickly sweet tone. 'I'd call you a lot of much nicer names if I didn't think you'd dice me.' I winked at him.

Hiei blushed. Like full-on, can barely see his red eyes blushed.

"Please do your telepathic flirting somewhere I can't accidentally hear you." Kurama sighed.

Hiei quickly recovered from his shock. 'Doesn't matter what you call me in public, so long as its MY name you scream in private.'

"HIEI!" the fox and I voiced our shock simultaneously.

"Not you, fox," Hiei winked, "her."

* * *

I was going to leave an extra long chapter to make up for no chapters last week, but i couldn't find the inspiration for it with just the one review. so this little comic bit is what you get. reviews are like crack for a writer. the more we get, the more jazzed we are and the faster we update. (btw, WRF, your reviews make my mom wonder what's wrong with me for days. its the silly grin.)


	7. Chapter 7

White Rose Fox: thank you, I try. You just made all the tweaking worth it.

perfect-piscies: I like to think that if Hiei continued a little longer, and had someone around who knew EXACTLY when he was pulling some kind of emotional bs, he'd be a terrible flirt. ;-) and welcome to my awesome reviewers list!

howling wolf mika: dude! Thank you! Btw, your review came in right as I was finishing this chapter. Thanks for joining my reviewers club!

by the way, I've already got a sequel in the works... I told y'all, I have this completely written out. Now, I wouldn't normally update this fast, but 26 hits and two reviews on the first day makes me jazzed up to write! (and the day's not even over yet!) {as I type, number three came in, I am so jazzed!}

* * *

The move to Japan was pushed up a couple of days, as the lovely temple keepers managed to finish preparations early. One small problem, I never got a passport. Never needed one. So, to keep to his own schedule, Koenma opened a portal for Hiei, Kurama and I to take. Yusuke and Kuwabara had to stay behind a day or two, to pack up what we'd need for the rest of the year in Japan. By that, I really mean all of the clothing and toiletry items in the house.

The portal dumped us out in a very lovely wooded clearing.

"The spoiled brat would dump us out on the other side of the old woman's forest." Hiei grumbled.

"Come now, Hiei, its not as bad as it could be. At least we're in the woods, and we can run there. He could have dumped us in the middle of Tokyo, and force us to use the train again." Kurama laughed.

"Really, Kurama? You'd run off and leave me to get hopelessly lost in the woods while crippled?" I huffed.

Hiei seemed amused by Kurama's sudden blush. "My apologies."

"Hn, I'll race you to the temple, fox. And win, while carrying m... this onna." Hiei said, a little shifty eyed at the slip. He lifted me in a fireman's carry.

Kurama took my crutches even as I voiced a protest. "Lets make it more interesting, Hiei. If I beat you, you'll have to kiss her... REALLY kiss her."

Hiei nodded. 'Hold tight, onna.'

His mental voice was the only warning I had before we took off. The only time I'd ever moved that fast was when I was strapped into the seat of a car.

* * *

Kurama was standing on the steps waiting for us. A laugh danced in his eyes, barely restrained.

Hiei placed set me on my feet. " You cheated."

I clung to Hiei's shoulder and gave Kurama a look to get my crutches back. I did not get them, so I glared at the smug fox demon.

Kurama let out the chuckle he'd been holding in. "I believe you lost on your own, Hiei. And a bet is a bet."

I started to lean away from my dragon protector. This whole kiss thing was making me just a little nervous. That peck on the forehead at the hospital was one thing, but this...

Hiei pulled me around to face him. One hand at my hip and one at my neck held me up, and brought me in close. When our lips met it came as a small surprize and I jumped.

For a fire demon, his lips were very soft.

* * *

Yukina was the first inhabitant of the temple we met. She was a petite thing with seafoam hair and very familiar red eyes. Her voice was just as soft and melodic as Kuwabara said it would be. "Please, come in. The tea has just been brewed. Did Kazuma come with you?"

"He and Yusuke will be following tomorrow." Kurama replied.

I silently thanked all the gods of all the pantheons I'd ever studied for my sudden bout of good choices that day, as I'd put on clogs instead of my normal tennis shoes. I didn't even have to sit down to remove my shoes.

Sitting down to tea, on the other hand, was an exercise in keeping the stuff in my head, in my head and not cussing in front of the ladies. I had a feeling that the old woman would smack me for it. I was rather proud of myself for only wincing once in the process.

Hiei noticed. The little dark demon had been watching me like a hawk since the incident, so all of my winces and mumbles of pain were probably added to the list in his head of things he had to beat himself up for.

The demon in question rose as soon as was polite (I knew he had some kind of manners) and asked Yukina to take a walk with him.

"He watches her as if she'd disappear if he blinks." a girl with blue hair commented once the door shut behind the two demons.

"He thinks he failed his job as my protector." I said softly. Now that the worry wart was out of the room, I shifted and stretched my leg out to ease the pain.

"She was injured during a battle, though we'd put her out of sight. Botan, you should have seen him this month." Kurama grinned at the girl.

The old woman hmphed. "About time that boy opened up."

I drifted off into my thoughts about the past few weeks with Hiei. I knew I intrigued him, the little ningen onna who can actually keep him out of her head without trying too hard. But since the incident, it seemed like more than intrigue or misplaced guilt.

I came back to the conversation when I heard Kurama say, "He actually shed tears when her blood hit his cheek. Her scream triggered the fastest, most deadly Mortal Flame attack I have ever witnessed from Hiei."

"Oh dear, did his tears turn into hiruseki stones like Yukina's?" Botan asked. Her pink eyes threatened to spill tears of her own.

Kurama pulled a pair of perfectly round red and black stones from his pocket. Each was strung on a silver chain. "Two did. The two that mingled with her blood."

I touched them gently. "They're beautiful. Almost perfect yin yang symbols."

He returned one of the stones to his pocket, then moved to put the other around my neck. "Its only fitting that you wear the tear he cried for you."

"He said something about toying with the scum too long, was he still fighting?" I asked.

"Fighting and pretending to lose quite well, actually. Niroth didn't even know what hit him when Hiei snapped." Kurama chuckled.

"Our Hiei? The little black clad demon with a superiority complex? He actually cares for a human?" Botan's face was the epitome of a shocked look.

"I'm not just any mere human. I can, without any training whatsoever, keep him out of my mind completely. It made him so mad." I winked at the blue haired girl.

Yukina raced in at that very moment. "Hiei just told me! He's my brother! I knew it, but he actually told me!"

the lightbulb clicked on in my head. "That's why you two have the same eyes!" I exclaimed. I started to get up to hug her with Botan, but caught myself in time.

Hiei followed her in. 'Are you proud of me?' His eyes caught and held mine. He actually wanted my opinion.

'Very.' I smiled up at him. "Help me up please, Hiei? I wanna hug your sister to celebrate." I held up my hands.

He took them and hauled me to my feet. "Will you be hugging me as well?"

My only response was to hug him.

* * *

Bandage time came all too soon for my tastes. He tried very hard to be gentle, but it always hurt. This time he brought in his sister.

"Wow, you must have some skills, Kina, he never lets anyone help with my bandages." I giggled.

She gave me a look. "Only Kazuma has ever called me Kina."

"May I? Nicknames are my way of letting my special peeps know they're my special peeps. I mean, I don't call just anyone by a nickname, it has to be earned..." I trailed off, suddenly embarrassed.

"Of course you may! Just don't be surprised if Kazuma gets mad about it." she giggled behind her hand politely.

I glanced at Hiei. The surge of happiness I felt from him only barely registered in his eyes.

Yukina knelt beside my leg and began to unwrap the bindings. "So, what do you call my brother?"

"I call him Oni-san. But only when he's being a jerk." I winked over at Hiei. "Called him honey and sweetie a few times too."

Hiei drew closer to take discarded bandages from his sister. "The sweetie doesn't count, we were pretending for that ridiculous cover story you thought up on the way to the hospital."

I hissed as a stab of pain tore through my leg. "You rather liked it, shut up." I turned my head toward Yukina. "I told the EMT's he was my fiancee so that he could ride with me to the hospital."

Her musical giggle was cut short by a gasp of shock. "This is a demon infection. We, I must get Botan and Kurama, I can't heal this."

I bit the fleshy part of my hand, just below the thumb, to keep in the scream of pain trying to get out as she prodded my leg.

Hiei helped me into a more comfortable position as she took off running. "You are in a lot of pain."

"Thank you captain obvious." I managed to growl through my teeth.

"The three of them should be able to figure out what to do. You won't die on my watch." He seemed to be talking to me, but I couldn't tell who he was trying to reassure with his words.

The fox and Yukina entered the room together. "Hiei, you should have let me see this days ago." Kurama said. He touched my leg gently.

"Please do not poke me more than absolutely necessary." I gritted my teeth more. That didn't help, so I bit my hand again.

"I have to shift, so that I can summon a makai plant."

"Whatever is necessary, fox, just do it." Hiei commanded.

When he fully transformed, Yoko leaned down to look me in the eye. "Pretty little girl, tell me exactly what the weapon looked like. If it is too hard to speak, you may let down your mental barriers, I'm sure Hiei can keep your pain from reaching the other women."

I shook my head. "I won't. I can handle it."

'Baka onna, stop being so noble and let us help you.' Hiei's mental voice held all the worry and annoyance he felt towards me.

"Sorry." I whispered to the two demons and let down my shields.

Yoko took a knee, and his form shimmered for a moment. "Now then, tell me what the weapon looked like."

I hated having to do that to them, and the tears started to fall. "It looked like a giant bug stinger, or mandible. Definitely not any kind of metal I've ever seen."

Yoko hmmed a response and pulled a seed from his hair. He gave me a genuinely apologetic look. "I have to plant this directly into your wound. It is the only flower in all of the makai that will heal a bite from the bug those imps took their weapons from. It will hurt more than anything you have ever felt before, so, brace yourself."

I screamed as a new level of pain took over my senses. The gods took pity on me, and I blacked out moments after it had begun.

* * *

I woke to a warm smoke scented embrace, and a soft song in a language I'd never heard before. I looked up and saw that Hiei was the owner of the soft singing voice. "When were you gonna tell me you could sing?"

He jumped at the sound of my voice. "Don't scare me like that again."

"Um, sorry? Did the plant work?"

"Over a day ago. After that, it was a simple task for my sister to heal you, and the ferrygirl to remove your stitches."

"Do I have a scar? And how much more than a day ago?"

"Yes, you have a scar. And you've been out for a day and a half."

I sat up and stretched. "Damn. But at least I'm not dead."

He laughed, but I could feel the nervousness anyway. "Kurama gave me the other hiruseki stone before he left."

"They are beautiful, but please, no more." I gave him a sad smile.

"Kurama threatened me. Said he'd kick my forbidden ass if he found another one while cleaning up after a battle." Hiei grinned at me.

"Empty threat. But the faster I get trained, the sooner you won't have to worry about my breakable ningen ass anymore." I laughed.

* * *

Here is a good place to stop... a scene change. Anyways, if anyone knows how to spell hiruseki properly, please let me know, so I can fix it if I flubbed it.

REVIEWS MAKE ME TYPE MORE! (honestly, I wasn't gonna type this much, but then the third review came in, so here ya go.)


	8. Chapter 8

Hello lovelies. I've decided that, since I'm sick today, I'll write you another chapter. Its about all I'm good for right now.

* * *

The first person I saw on the way to the kitchen was Yukina. The petite girl fairly glomped me as soon as she set her eyes on me. "Pyro! I was so worried!"

"Can't get rid of me that easy, no worries honey." I laughed. Luckily I was completely healed, or we would have wound up on the floor.

"You woke just in time for lunch to be served." Kurama leaned out of the kitchen and laughed at us.

I walked closer and stared at the wall beside his head. "Are... are you, um, ok with the other night?"

From the corner of my eye I saw Kurama's eyes crinkle. He laughed a little. "I asked you to do that. We're good, Pyro. But you, seriously, I still haven't figured out how you kept that in without screaming."

I leaned a little closer and stage whispered, "I bit my hand pretty hard."

"You broke skin." Yukina added.

We all walked into the kitchen. Yukina and I sat at the table on the other side of the room while Hiei and Kurama brought over bowls of rice and stir-fried veggies.

"Why did you inflict more damage on yourself, Pyro? No one would have said anything if you had cried out." Yukina asked me while the boys were busy.

Hiei sat on the other side of me after placing rice and chopsticks down for everyone. Kurama sat at the last place, between the twins. His task had been much easier, as we were sharing from the large bowl in the center of the table.

After everyone had sat, I finally had my answer worded. It was hard to figure out. "I bit myself so that I wouldn't cause the rest of the house distress. I've seen what can happen when one of these guys hears a scream, especially if its Hiei."

Yukina giggled.

"Your screaming wouldn't be half as distressing as what would have happened had you not chosen to wake up today." Kurama tried to keep his words and emotions bland, but I knew he shuddered at the thought.

I turned a half glare on the fire demon to my right.

He refused to meet my glare. "I may have threatened the fox last night. And I have not been very pleasant while you took your time waking up."

I threw my arms around his shoulders. He tensed, but he made no move to shake me off. "My knight in shining... erm, black capes!"

* * *

I allowed the boys to coddle me for a few days as I recovered my strength. It was a load of bollocks, but it made them feel better about my repeated requests to spar them. Hiei, of course, insisted I show him what I know about fighting before he let me into their usual clearing. The training dummy, I'm sad to say, will never stand on his own again.

Kurama asked to spar me first, as he was sure of his ability to pull his punches and not hurt me so bad.

I laughed. "The last time I was told that, my tae kwon do sensei got me with a reverse hook kick and dislocated my jaw during a belt test."*

Hiei growled.

"And that is why I will be sure to not break you." Kurama chuckled.

During the fight I noticed two things. Hiei had a fondness for mentally correcting my form in midstrike, and I was learning everything Kurama knew about fighting, just because I was fighting him. I stored the second tidbit in my head for future testing.

We took a water break, and I noticed something moving very carefully toward us in the trees.

"Pass a rose, please?" I held out my hand, keeping my eyes on the movements.

"I haven't used that attack on you." Kurama protested.

Hiei pressed a rose into my hand. "Yes you did, in the alley when we met," Hiei said to Kurama. Then, to me, "You're no good with that yet, last time you nearly took off your own foot."

I flicked the rose like a whip in the direction of the movement. Direct hit on the branch it landed on. "I did not! You like to exaggerate too much."

There was a yelp and crash as the branch I had hit gave way.

"I meant to do that!" I clapped my hands in glee.

* * *

Investigation of the crash revealed a small child-like figure with stars on his cheek, and a handful of yo-yo's ready to throw.

"Kurama, why did you knock me out of the tree?" It relaxed and pouted when it saw my companions.

"Ah, Rinku, it wasn't me. She's, ah, learned my secrets." Kurama tripped over his words.

The little one looked me up and down. "You must be that human the whole makai is talking about. I'm Rinku, I'm on your side."

"Um, pleased to meet you. I'm Pyro. What are they saying about me?" I said, holding out my hand in a holdover habit of American politeness.

He surprised me by shaking it vigorously. "They say that if you come into full power, you could take over all three worlds without breaking a nail."

"Why would I want to do a silly thing like that?" I laughed.

Kurama coughed. "Its what Lotus was working on when I, um, knew her."

Hiei growled again.

I turned to face the two of them, because they were still behind me. "You," I pointed to Hiei, "cool it. And you," I pointed at Kurama, "had better get it through your thick foxy skull that I am NOT Lotus, and I will never be Lotus. I'd rather die."

Rinku laughed behind me. "I knew it. As soon as I met you I knew you didn't want to take over the worlds."

I turned around again. "You are a very observant kid. I like you." I patted the little demon on the shoulder.

"Make him stop glaring at me." Rinku kinda sidestepped so that I was between him and Hiei, so I knew which him he meant.

"Oh come on, I can like whomever I please. And if he was going to kill me, he would have tried already." I sighed and hung my head. Dealing with the fire demon could get so tiring.

"I was not glaring at him." Hiei replied. His voice held a slight tone of guilt.

"Bull shit, Oni-san, I know better than that."

Rinku laughed at us, then turned to Kurama. "Are they like that a lot?"

Somehow Kurama managed to utter an affirmative with complete calm before chuckling at us himself.

* * *

*this really did happen to me at a belt test. i had just had minor mouth surgery and wasn't allowed to get hit in the face, but i had to spar for belt testing. my sensei said he'd do it, used a kick i'd never seen and couldn't block, hit me in the face, and dislocated my jaw. and yes, i got my belt.

More friends will be joining us soon. Thanks for any reviews and favourites, they mean the world to me.

Review to speed up and lengthen the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

Ok, quick note for those of you who have read ch8 and noticed that I failed to explain the star. I have, but I'll just give a brief summary, so you don't have to go back. The reverse hook kick delivered by a tae kwon do sensei... true story. Took three days to get it back in place.

White Rose Fox: thank you for your well wishes! And for being the only aww to the super sappy ch7.

DarkRoseDragon: aw thank you! reviews like yours and miss WRF's are the reason i'm still typing.

Random reminder: I own the plot, and the OC's. Everything else belongs to whomever holds the copyright to YYH. I am unfortunately not making a profit, so yeah, is all good.

* * *

The little guy wasn't the only demon to come visiting that day. All total, there were five demons added to our little training camp, apparently specifically requested by Yusuke. He thought they all had powers that I should learn.

Rinku, the little one, introduced the others as they showed up. Shishi, a pretty boy who's real name is very long and hard to remember, let alone spell. Touya, a blue haired, ambiguously pretty being, not as conceited as Shishi. Jin, a red headed Irish sort of fellow who flew about instead of walking. Suzuka, a rather effeminate thing with clownish makeup who INSISTED I call him beautiful, which meant I would do everything in my power to not call him that. And Chu, who showed up drunk and wobbly.

"Hn, the detective has odd choices." Hiei said to me as we led the way to the temple.

"I don't understand." I replied, keeping my voice low.

"You will not be able to replicate Rinku's attack, and I'm not sure that the clown has anything useful for you to learn." he replied.

"I don't just learn special moves anymore, Hiei."

The dragon stopped suddenly and looked shocked.

"No, I don't learn life histories. I will most likely fight very similar to Kurama the next time I spar." I laughed at the completely open expression on the little fire demon's face.

"Good. There are things you do not need to know about me, onna." He recovered quickly and continued on.

* * *

Yusuke and Kuwabara were waiting in the courtyard when we returned. Genkai was nowhere to be found, so it was left to them to sort out the rooms.

"We didn't plan for you guys to all show up at once, so there's going to be some shifting going on. Two of us are going to have to share." Yusuke held up two fingers to emphasize his point.

"I don't mind sharing." I said after a long pause. "I spent most of my life sharing a room, I'm used to it."

"I will sleep wherever I find an open spot." Hiei said in his usual DILLIGAF way.

I grabbed his arm before he could run off. "You can have the second bedroll in my room. You will not sleep outside, especially since winter is almost on us."

"Hn." He didn't even look at me, just shook me off and disappeared again.

"Just you wait! You're gonna zip off often enough and I'll learn how and follow your demon ass just so I can slap you upside your head!" I yelled into the air.

"I'll share with Chu. I'm used to taking care of him anyway." Rinku said.

* * *

After we sorted out rooms and food for the evening, the newly arrived demons, Hiei and I sat around talking. Well, they were talking, I was asking questions, and Hiei was watching me, and just being Hiei.

"So you're human..." Shishi sneered at me, like being human was kinda like being a fly.

I met the insult with one of my own, I was itching for a good verbal spat. "So you're a girl who pretends to be a guy..."*

The looks I earned from the other four newcomers were priceless.

"I am not." Shishi crossed his arms and huffed.

"That's ok, we can't all be perfect." I laughed.

"If you were not a woman under the Jaganshi's protection, I would demand a duel." Shishi went from a huff to a full on pout. What was with all these powerful demons pouting at me?

Touya put a hand on the pouter's shoulder. "You would not want to fight her for real even without her being in Hiei's care. Mere human, but with all the power of an A class demon."

"And Yusuke would fry your ass." Chu hiccuped and waved his sake bottle at them.

I could feel Hiei bristle beside me. 'Chillax man, its just talk and warnings against his intent.'

Hiei turned red.

I draped my arm around the fire demon's shoulders. "You're my knight in a black cape, but you take this too seriously." I giggled.

Obviously disturbed by my sudden PDA, Hiei just rolled his eyes and said, "Onna, please."

"Blame Chu for being drunk in the same room as an empath." I giggled some more. Chu had to be exceptionally wasted for me to catch that big a contact drunk off him.

Chu laughed. "Can't help it, I'm a drunken master. Alchihol enhances my powers you see."

"That's just the downside of being me, thanks to Lord High Pacifier Mouth." I muttered.

"So that's how you tracked me!" Rinku exclaimed like a light bulb just clicked on in his brain.

"Damn skippy." I giggled again. I guess I'm a giggly drunk.

Hiei stood and dragged me to my feet. "Nice as it is to see you get along with your new teachers, its time to leave the room now."

I didn't put up a fight as he led me away.

* * *

Hiei led me all the way to the porch on the far opposite side of the temple. And proceeded to glare at me.

I endured several minutes of his intense gaze before I couldn't take it anymore. "What the hell did I do?"

"When Chu's inebriation began to affect you, I had to contain your thoughts from the others." he said as blandly as possible.

"Oh shit... Please tell me you didn't see anything." I searched his face for some flicker of sympathy, and failed.

He shrugged.

"You did see something. Remind me to not be in a room with Chu anymore." I slid down the wall, wrapped my arms around my knees and hid my face in the hollow that was left.

"Hn."

I looked up. "It must have been bad if you're back to answering me with 'hn' when we're alone." No, I really don't remember all the thoughts that go through my head, there are too many, and I'd run out of space to store them all.

"It wasn't so much that they were bad, as it was that they were starting to get graphic." Hiei smirked.

Yusuke just so happened to walk over just then. "You let his antisocialness influence you too much, Pyro. I thought you were all about meeting our guests."

My head was down on my knees again, so I mumbled louder than usual. "Caught a contact drunk off Chu, cuz I'm god like that. Shields slipped, and now I'm mortally embarrassed by it, and will most likely die of it later."

'If you die because of the way your powers make you feel, I will be forced to kill Koenma, and possibly Chu.' Hiei's mental voice was quickly becoming the most calming sound in the world to me. And that is a scary thought all by itself.

'I'll have to help him with that.' Yusuke's mental voice piped in.

I looked up just to glare at the offending boy. "A and B conversation jerk, C your way out of it."

He laughed. "She won't really die, Hiei, we just have to piss her off and distract her."

I shot several rude gestures from several cultures at his retreating back.

* * *

Eventually I moved into my room to hide in a corner. Corners are highly defensible positions, one's back is protected at all times, which is why I always sulked in one when I do something stupid with my powers. And letting my guard down around a drunk was extremely stupid.

Late that night, Hiei walked in and started setting up the bedrolls about a foot apart. I made a note in the back of my head that I would be the one to put them both away in the morning.

He didn't speak till he was done and had the corner of the blanket flipped down. "You gonna stop sulking now? Or am I going to be forced to pick you up and put you in your bed?"

I answered his question with a glare. I got myself into bed and faced the wall. He'd had me close to the wall when I was sick as well. Yes, he had camped out in my room. He put me against the most defensible wall, and put himself in front of the door. This set up was a little more normal, but he was still closer to the door, and I was still closer to the most defensible wall.

"So I'll take that as you're still sulking. I thought women from your country went out and partied all the time." Hiei said. It sounded closer than his bed, but I didn't feel like looking.

"One, I'm not most women, don't lump me in with the tramps. B, I'm mostly embarrassed that I acted like that in front of your friends."

He laughed a short bark of a sound. "You are strange. They are friends of the detective, I tolerate them. Their opinion does not matter."

I sat up and looked him in the eye. "You saw the craziness in my head. And if my thoughts were getting graphic enough to make you uncomfortable, then it was entirely too close for my comfort."

"We had a meeting after you crawled in here to hide. It seems that I am now the expert on the subject of you, and told them that Lotus was a possible downside to letting you learn from Chu. He and Rinku will be leaving first thing in the morning."

"So we're gonna pretend you didn't see anything going on in my head, right?" I gave him a hopeful look.

He shrugged.

I glared again, then laid down facing the wall.

The light went out. It was the only indication that he'd moved at all. "I never said I objected to your thoughts, onna." His breath was on the back of my neck as he spoke.

"Don't freaking do that!" I swung my arm to try and hit him for startling me.

He grabbed my arm and brought it gently down in front of me. The move both held me still and made it so that I was wrapped in the smoky scented embrace that was starting to mean safety. "Relax, if I really wanted to try anything, I would have done so." He laughed at my attempt to free my arm. "I just wanted my crazy ningen onna back."

"Been meaning to ask, you slipped up the day we got here, when the hell did I become your female?"

"Its a demon thing. I fought over you, I killed for you, all my instincts say you're now mine, and if you die, its ultimately my fault."

"Is that why you threatened the cat? I mean, it was before you killed Niroth and all, but still..."

"That beast had it coming, it pounced on everyone."

I giggled at his lame protest. "You know Kurama most likely heard your slip, and proposed the bet because of it."

"I was hoping neither of you noticed."

"His hearing's better than mine, and its kind of hard to not hear someone standing right next to you as close as you tend to stand to me."

He swore in Japanese.

"Meh, I thought it was kinda cute."

He started to get up.

"I thought I told you no sleeping outside."

"Just going to my own bed."

"You can stay, if you want. I wouldn't mind."

"Didn't want to assume." He moved a bit closer, and draped his arm over my waist instead of holding my arm down.

"Unless I say otherwise, after I've sulked, always assume I wanna cuddle."

* * *

*i have nothing against female impersonators or male impersonators or drag queens of any kind. RuPaul is one of my favourite artists, and I wanna be a drag queen just like her when I grow up. {btw, I'm 28 and a girl}

yes, I know, another sappy ending. But they're so cute when they're alone! And the 192 hits this month and 150 last month are making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Thank you so much for that!


	10. Chapter 10

The sappiness of the last chapter is done, for now. Now we get a taste of the day to day, otherwise known as boring normalicy.

White Rose Fox: thanks, nice to know i'm not the only one who thinks shishi's hiding something.

DarkRoseDragon: no probs sweetie! it means so much that you took the time to tell me you enjoyed it. and gluing Kuwabara to a chair... i could so totally see that happening!

NOTE: i cannot write brogue. so imagine Jin's brogue when he speaks plzkthx.

* * *

"Wouldja look at the two lovebirds! How cute!" Yusuke's voice first thing in the morning was more annoying than an alarm clock.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to kill your friend." I grumbled.

"Ever heard of knocking, detective?" Hiei shifted behind me.

"You're still fully dressed? Damn, that means I have laundry duty for a month!" the zombie groaned.

There were sounds of a scuffle, so I just got up and rolled away the bedding. Then I moved to stand between the boys. "You've thrashed him enough, Hiei, thanks."

"Hn." Hiei crossed his arms and glared at the idiot.

"And you... didn't your girlfriend teach you that sex isn't the only reason a human female chooses to share her bed with a male she happens to like?" I turned my most evil glare on the zombie.

"She's not my girlfriend, she's my mate." Yusuke growled at me, then left.

"Idiot." Hiei mumbled.

I just grabbed my stuff and headed for the shower. The best thing about my new super senses was that I could tell where everyone was, and which of the three showers was free.

* * *

My clothes were missing again when I got out. It started as just a once a week thing, but it was starting to happen more and more. I thought it was just because I was new, and kinda sick. But this time seemed more like some kind of twisted matchmaking.

The walk back to the room I shared with Hiei seemed a lot longer when only wearing a towel, so I ran. My bad luck continued, Hiei was still in the room.

"Merde." I made sure the towel was secure before moving away from the sliding door.

"Why are you only in a towel?" He watched me move across the room. I swear he was trying to either will the towel to fall, or devour me with his eyes.

"Oh, just your twisted matchmaker friends trying to get us to do the wild monkey dance." I shrugged. "Um, they stole my clothes again. I think they're trying to get us to, y'know..." I blushed for the more detailed explanation.

"They want us to mate?" Hiei asked, shock colouring his tone. Then, just as shocked, "Are you really planning on changing in here?"

I held my towel up with my elbows as I hopped on one foot so that my towel blocked his view. "I believe so, and yes. There is no way I am walking down that hall again after the others have started moving around."

He made a strange noise that was not his usual sound of derision.

I finished pulling up my undies and looked him in the eye. "I trust you. Like you said last night, you've had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of me, and you haven't." I grinned and winked. "Besides, I know how to get dressed so that you won't see a thing."

He must have taken it as a challenge, because I felt his eyes on me the whole time. He didn't even make a move to follow me when I left the room.

* * *

In the kitchen, the blue haired boy was standing at the stove, cooking. He didn't even look up when I moved to peek over his shoulder at what he was cooking.

"Its almost ready. Chu sends his apologies for not saying goodbye." He said and tapped my head with a pair of chopsticks to make me back up.

"Can you tell him I said we're cool when you see him again?" I asked and backed up out of chopstick reach.

"I will."

"Thanks. Touya, right?"

"The one and only. Pyro is a very unusual name." He tipped the wok over to spill the contents into a waiting bowl.

"Its a use-name. Nobody knows my true name anymore. Even before I took up with the detective and company."

"Kurama tried that. He doesn't fair very well with it though." He held out a full bowl and motioned to the table while he spoke.

I took it and put it in the middle. "Yeah, I heard about that. I have it a little easier though. I mean, I'm well over legal, and don't contact my family very often."

He placed bowls and chopsticks on the table beside the big main bowl. "Do you have another name we can call you? Pyro is a little strange."

"My full use-name is Pyro Feochadan." I grinned.

"Now there's a language I've missed." Jin took a bowl and sat down. His ears twitched.

I grinned at him. "Fitting, yeah?"

"I think y'be more of a Fionn than a Feochadan, but it'll do." Jin laughed.

Touya looked so confused when he finally spoke. "What are you talking about?"

I patted the blue haired demon's shoulder. "Fionn means fair, Feochadan means thistle. Its Irish Gaelic, Jin's language." I shivered and gave Touya a questioning look.

"Ice master. If you're going to be around Hiei a lot, you'll need to know how to freeze things." He smiled knowingly.

"Oh you're sick! Just for that, I'm eating outside!" I grabbed a portion and ran out the door.

* * *

Somehow, Hiei managed to avoid me until I was starting to warm up on the training dummy. "The dummy is already dead, do you really need to pummel it further?"

I punched the dummy harder. "Nobody will spar me until you get out here." I round kicked the dummy for good measure.

"You did that wrong."

"I held back because its dead."

"Never assume your opponent is dead. Many demons can feign death for hours, so never hold back."

"What about when you and I spar? Can I hold back then?"

"No. I am a demon, you cannot hurt me unless you use a special power."

"Will you be holding back?"

"Of course. You're human, and already proved to be fragile."

I dropped into a guarding stance. "Not that fragile, try me."

"You're not ready." He tried to glare me into submission.

I met his eyes and refused to back down. "Come on, you won't hurt me."

He sighed and looked away. "Two months."

"What?"

"I will spar you in two months." He met my eyes again, this time to dare me to say otherwise.

"Alright. I won't ask until then, dragon." I grinned and headed off for my next match.

"I'll hold you to that." he said. 'I'd rather hold you to that tree...' Thankfully his thought trailed off before he could elaborate on exactly why he wanted to hold me to the tree.

* * *

Scene changes are always good places to stop. i may be going more than a day or two between updates for a while, i'm putting together some of my old poems and publishing them as an e-book on .

Up for a vote! When Hiei and Pyro finally decide to do more than just sleep when they share a bed, do you want a full lemon, or just a hint of citrus? You decide. {cast your vote in a review please}


	11. Chapter 11

I know, you hate it when I jump around. But really, NOTHING HAPPENS between times. Pyro is so boring sometimes. I could fuss up here and say all she did was train, but I'll let her do it.

OH! up for voting! Hiei and Pyro will eventually do more than just sleep when they share a bed. Do you want a full lemon, or just a citrusy hint? I'm making this up to you. {which means ya hafta review to cast your vote!}

* * *

The next time sparring Hiei came up, it was almost six months later. The months in between were a blur of sparring, sleeping, and taking my place in chore rotation. It was something of a joke though, since we never sparred for the hell of it. We wagered chores.

Yusuke had gone off to sulk after losing and gaining latrine duty for the week. Kurama, Touya and I were waiting for another demon to show up. While we waited, we discussed my training.

"Hiei only got me once yesterday." I said. I was proud of myself.

"I had him distracted. He only tried twice." Touya replied.

Damn, there went that happy moment. I glared at the ice master.

"But that's still better than last week." Kurama pointed out.

I could have hugged the fox for that, but Hiei decided to jump down from the tree he'd been hiding in.

He stopped in the middle of the clearing and took off his cloak. "Come on, onna. Show me what you learned."

I cocked my head and gave him a look. I was well aware of the shock on the two demons standing near me, but ignored them. "You know exactly what I've learned, Hiei."

He crooked a finger, indicating I should join him in the center of the clearing. "Spar me before I change my mind, onna." he growled at me.

I growled right back and moved to stand in front of him. "Name the stakes, we don't fight for nothing around here."

"If I win, you have to let me read your mind whenever for a month." Hiei smirked at me.

"If I win, you have to take me out on a real date." I gave him my own evil smirk.

"First to three falls wins. And it has to be a full fall, not just a hit." He started to circle to my right.

"Three falls is good. Touya can keep count." I moved to keep Hiei in my direct line of sight. The man was like a leprechaun, take your eyes off him and he vanishes.

Hiei rushed me. I grabbed his arm as I dodged and threw him. He landed hard with a small "oomph."

"One for the human." Touya called.

"Don't hold so much back, you can do better!" Kurama called.

"I wasn't holding THAT much back." Hiei grumbled.

"I was talking to the little thistle." Kurama laughed.

It made Hiei mad, and he charged again. He threw punches at me and tried to stay inside my guard, so I couldn't kick him. I managed to knock him back far enough for a well-placed kick to his middle and got my second fall.

"You, sir, are not even trying." I glared at the dark demon picking himself up off the ground.

He threw a punch at my head. "I am trying... not to hurt you."

I threw a punch at him. "Oh come on, I'm not stupid, and I'm not just any little ningen chan..." I blocked another face shot and knife handed his bicep. "I'm the baddest bitch in the valley!*"

I aimed a kick at his head. And wound up on my back.

"Does that make you feel better, onna?" he stood over me.

I kicked out at him with both feet as I flipped myself upright.

"Three. Hiei, you actually have to date the girl." Touya laughed.

I smiled and held out my hand to Hiei. "You let me win."

"Do you even know what a date is, Hiei?" Kurama teased.

Hiei grabbed my hand and hauled himself upright. "I know what a date is, fox. At least I'm going on one."

"OOO burn!" I laughed. "I'm surprised I got you with that last move. That was just to show you I paid attention to all your yelling."

"Honestly, I'm surprised you even tried it. You never try an attack from the ground." Hiei told me, his pride washing over me like sunshine in spring.

I grinned. "You keep telling me I should never give up just because I'm on the ground."

"That was tournament worthy. Your fighting has dramatically improved this month." Kurama ruffled my hair. It was his thing, and I tolerated it because I feared Yoko a little.

"I wasn't that amazing." I blushed and ducked out of his reach.

Touya grabbed my arms to keep me from backing into him any more. "I think next time I'll have to use one of my powers to win."

"That would be cheating, I don't have any ice attacks yet, T." I laughed. "And for your information, boys, Hiei went easy on me." I started off toward the temple, since the sun was starting to set.

Hiei caught up to me within two steps and stayed beside me. "Not all that much."

"Hiei, its bad form to lie to the girl you're dating." Kurama's voice held a hint of laughter.

Hiei walked backwards a few steps to glare at the fox. "How would you know? You spend most of your time hiding from the women who would have you."

I peeked over my shoulder to see Kurama's eyes get wide and his mouth open and close a few times. I decided that Hiei looked too smug for his own good right then. The guy was awesome, and took my protection super seriously, but he really had to learn to bite his tongue again. I mean, snarky was one thing, that comment to Kurama was just a low blow.

"Oh, he can't hide from me, foxy, I know he held way back." I winked over my shoulder at the still seething fox. "I think Hiei actually WANTED to lose."

I heard Hiei's growl and began to run.

* * *

I ran until I hit the brick wall that is Yusuke Urameshi. He caught me. "Whoa there witchy! What lit a fire under your ass?"

"Fire is very appropriate..." I panted. I had run flat out for at least a mile and a half.

Suddenly Yusuke went from calm to bristling in anger. "What did the little shit do?"

"Oh, I beat his ass. Then he started sniping Kurama for teasing him, and went too far, so I sniped Hiei. He growled, and I ran." I laughed.

Yusuke fell on his ass. "You beat Hiei?"

I hauled the zombie to his feet. "Yeah, I did. First to three falls. He coulda had me if we went to four. I just got a lucky shot."

Hiei and the others showed up then. Genkai appeared out of nowhere and bashed Hiei to the ground.

He sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "Did you miss Yusuke, old woman?"

"No, dimwit. You let her win." The old lady was back to sipping tea on the porch like nothing had happened.

"I did not." Hiei growled.

"How many times did you put her on the ground?" she asked, glaring at him.

Everyone in the courtyard fell completely silent.

Hiei bowed his head. "Once," he mumbled.

Yusuke fell down laughing.

"And what were the stakes? Don't think I don't know how Yusuke and Kuwabara keep getting all the crap work around here." Genkai continued.

I crossed my arms and leaned against one of the roof supports on the porch. It was getting interesting to watch the exchange, the emotions coming off Hiei were like that of a scolded child. He kind of looked like one too.

"She won a date. I would have won access to her mind for a month." Hiei mumbled.

Genkai bopped him down once again. "Next time play for stakes you actually want to win!"

I walked over and hauled the fire demon to his feet. "Or at the very least fake it better."

Yusuke slapped Hiei's back. "Do you even know what a date is, dragon?"

"Yes, detective," Hiei growled, "I know what a date is." He turned to me. "Why are you still standing here? Go get ready."

I squeaked. "Tonight!"

Hiei made a shooing motion at me. "We're going to a concert."

"Cool!" I raced off to get ready.

* * *

Botan tapped on my door about ten minutes later. She wanted to help me with my clothes. But, I was already dressed, and in the process on lining my eyes when she showed up. Purple corset with black lace accents, black skinny jeans that just hit the top of my hips, black biker-style boots, and I topped it off with playing card style eyeliner- the top and bottom of opposite eyes were black, and the alternate top and bottom lids were purple.

"Oh poo, I wanted to help." Botan pouted slightly when she got a look at me.

"You still can. My laces came undone in transit, and I just can't for the life of me tie them off right." I made a motion at my back.

She all but raced over. "To be honest, I thought I'd come in here to find you dressed in tights and tunic like usual, or jeans and a tee, like you do when we have a girls' day."

I pulled on a black three-quarter sleeve shrug jacket that showed off my middle, yet hid the cleavage somewhat. "Classy, not trashy." I told the cheery grim reaper.

"Bingo." She smiled and winked at me. "The eyeliner brings it all together."

"You think? I don't do the girly thing that often, and not at all since I met the guys. D'you think Hiei will like it?"

"He'd be a fool not to."

* * *

I walked into the common room. Hiei was still missing, so I figured he was still dusting off.

Touya looked up, then nudged Kurama under the chess table with his toe. Touya whistled, which got the attentions of Kuwabara and Yusuke.

"Damn, witchy, you clean up nice!" Yusuke grinned.

"Very nice. The shrug makes the outfit classy." Kurama said.

"Do a spin, so we can see the whole outfit." Touya suggested, making a twirling motion with his finger.

I did a slow spin.

"The shrimp better realize how lucky he is." Kuwabara muttered.

"I think I disappointed Botan." I giggled.

Someone tapped my shoulder from behind. "Excuse me miss, I'm supposed to be taking this girl out tonight, but I can't find the little tomboy anywhere."

I spun and my jaw dropped. Hiei was in black jeans, a tight fitting black tee and a black sport coat. His white bandana was firmly tied over his third eye. "Holy Hades..." I breathed.

He looked me up and down. "You look, good."

"You too." I shook my head a little to get over the shock.

Kurama produced a camera and had us pose. "I need a picture, because we will likely never see you two so dressed up again."

* * *

*i don't know which movie or book I stole this from. The full line is, 'yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, cause I'm the baddest motherf^^cker in the valley'

next time: the date...ish. Its the last chapter before the lemon, so let me know. DarkRoseDragon, White Rose Fox and howling wolf mika, your votes have all been duly noted. If there are no nay sayers, then the lemon will happen in two chapters.

And PLEASE read my notes! I let y'all know important things in there, like how the characters are gonna be somewhat OOC (especially hiei) so you don't need to tell me about their OOCness. Thank you.


	12. Chapter 12

Zegg: it wasn't just you sweetie, I swear. And now that I'm this far in, I realize that slight is an understatement. My apologies for listening to the characters in my head. (they hate me.)

White Rose Fox: thank you! Your reviews always make me smile.

I'm gonna have a bit from Hiei's POV, just because I couldn't find another way to get Kurama reading Hiei the riot act any other way. Someone's got to give the little guy the talk.

Disclaimer time: don't own the YYH characters, just borrowing them for my alternate reality where hiei becomes emotionally aware, and kurama sometimes acts like a jerk. I swear I'll give them back when I'm done!

* * *

The train got us within a block or two of the concert venue, so we decided to walk. I stayed close to Hiei, so I wouldn't get lost.

"Hey baby, wanna ditch the shortie and go out with a real man tonight?" It was the third lame pick up attempt since the train.

"Real men don't try and pick up other men's dates. Which obviously means you're a pathetic waste of my time." I said, not even bothering to glance his way.

Hiei glared at the man in question, then wrapped his arm around my waist. "Is this baka bothering you?"

I smiled over at Hiei and put my arm around him. "Nah. You know, we wouldn't have this problem if you'd stop being so formal in public, honey."

"Mother always told me I should have married myself a nice Japanese woman." Hiei laughed.

The guy got the hint and made himself scarce.

'From fiancees in an ambulance to married in half a year. Wow. How'd I sleep through that ceremony?' I laughed on the outside, to keep up appearances.

'Hn. He would not have backed down if I claimed you as anything less than my mate.' Hiei made a face at me. "If you wouldn't dress so revealingly in public, I wouldn't have to be physical."

"Maybe I like it when you lay claim like this." I winked at him. "Who are we going to go see?"

"You'll like them. The lead singer happens to be a kind of emotion demon himself, that I had to smuggle out of the makai a year or two ago."

"Really? What does he do with the emotions?"

"He feeds on them. Mostly emotions like admiration and affection, two things a demon who can't fight will never get in the makai."

"Does Koenma know about it?"

"Koenma approved his relocation papers. Sent me and Kurama after him. He and I both have a set of backstage passes at every show Raghukumara plays."

"Holy Hades, I love that band! But I always figured Niyati was a vampire, not a demon."

* * *

"Look again, baka. Two passes under the name Jaganshi, they're at every concert." Hiei growled at the security guard at the stage door.

The guard gulped and shuffled through the files again. "My apologies, sir, here they are. The note says you're to go straight to Mr. Niyati's dressing room. Fourth door on your right."

Hiei took the passes. He donned one and handed me the other. "I won't report you, this time."

We found the dressing room and knocked. Niyati answered with a scowl. "I thought I said I wasn't to be... HIEI! My favourite surly firefly! You finally came!" the other demon flung his arms around Hiei.

I struggled to keep in my giggles as Hiei tried to extract himself from the singer's grasp.

"Niyati, please, my onna will get ideas." Hiei sighed after a moment.

The singer released Hiei and looked me up and down. "You can't be serious. A gorgeous thing like you with that surly little swordsman? Stay with me tonight, gorgeous, I'll treat you like a princess."

I smiled and shook my head. "Nah. Hiei does right by me, and has been my champion twice, once to the death. So I think I'll keep him." I shrugged, then winked. "Besides, I stay with you in the context you're thinking, Hiei might kill my favourite singer!"

Niyati laughed. "With a claim on you like that, I think I'll stick to mild flirting."

* * *

I had fun. We were on the floor, right up against the crowd control barrier. A group of women were around us, most of them alone, and we decided to dance with each other. I made sure to stay in Hiei's line of sight, just to keep him from trying to burn anyone. It would suck if he had to be sent away for killing a human.

I did try to get Hiei to dance toward the end of the show. Niyati had switched over from the heavy, almost metal sounds of his early work to the very danceable softer sounds of his latest album.

"Dance with me, Hiei!" I tugged on his hands to get him into the group I'd been dancing with.

"I don't dance." He pulled me in close.

I pouted at him. "Just once. I swear I won't tell." I started to sway to the music.

He growled.

I grinned. "Its fun, Hiei. Please?"

'If I do this, you will never ask again?' mind to mind was easier to hear over the noise of the concert.

'If you dance with me now, I will not ask until Yusuke's wedding.' I smiled at the scowling demon.

'The detective will never marry.' He smirked at me, but allowed me to lead him away from the wall.

'Its like pulling power. Just feel the music and move.' I moved to the music, moving him along with me.

'Its like the ceremonies of the makai. But their music is all drums.' He moved with me on his own.

* * *

We left right after the show, declining Niyati's offers of an insane after party. We walked over to the nearest noodle shop and took our sweet old time getting back. Caught the last train, thank the gods. I don't think it would be very easy to explain a run like Hiei's in any situation.

It was well past 1 a.m. by the time we crept into the temple. We tried to be quiet, and slip into our room without waking the house, even though I was stifling mad giggles over Hiei's recent complaint against Niyati's enthusiastic greeting.

The light flared to life, albeit dim life. "Interesting phone call I got about an hour ago..." Kurama's voice was low, like the light he'd just clicked on.

"Um, hi, dad. Waiting long?" I giggled.

"Niyati rang, asked if the surly firefly had gotten you back safely. Said he was worried that you didn't attend his party, being a human woman in Hiei's care and all." Kurama gave me a look that could peel paint.

Hiei growled. "I told that baka how things stand. And so did she."

Kurama chuckled. "As did I. I told him that he'd better not call for our lovely Pyro again if he ever wanted an heir. If you two didn't thrash him, Yusuke most certainly would, on your behalf."

"Wow, y'all are bloodthirsty." I chuckled nervously and started down the hall.

"Goodnight, Pyro." Kurama said.

* * *

Hiei's POV

I started after her, I was tired, and liked to be the one to set out the bedrolls. She seemed to appreciate the gesture.

Kurama caught my arm. "Hiei, a word please?"

I faced the fox. He'd been trying to get me alone for days.

"What are you doing, Hiei? She's human."

That was subtle. I blinked at him.

"You know you can't keep her, even if you mark her, she will die long before you even get old." Kurama looked at me like he was trying to read my mind. Only the onna I share a room with can do that.

"I have staked a claim on the woman. I will keep her as long as I can." Simple was always best when dealing with the fox. Less for him to use to trick me.

"Don't play with her, Hiei, she's not a toy. I know exactly how dangerous she could become if her shields fail. Hiei, I mean it, this is not some kind of strategy game." Kurama looked away. "Humans can only last so long before their strength runs out."

"Hn." Normal humans wouldn't last long anyway. "She has and will hold out longer than most. The demon bitch inside her has nearly been the death of her, and that alone gives her strength." I looked toward the room I shared briefly, wondering if she was already asleep.

Kurama shook his head. "I will waste no more of your night Hiei. Please, just think about what I've told you. I like the changes she's worked in you, old friend, and I want you prepared for what could happen. So you don't go back to the way you were before."

I shrugged and started down the hall.

* * *

Pyro's POV

I stayed close enough to catch a little of what they were saying. Kurama could be such a worrier if given half a chance.

::He does not worry, its strategy. The lovely kitsune in there is a brilliant strategist, in and out of bed.::

'Ug, I do not want to know his intimate details. Get back in your box, bitch.' I hurried down the hall to get ready for bed. Didn't want Hiei to get mad at me for eavesdropping.

I sat in the room in a sleeveless gray tunic. I spent a lot of my time in the temple wearing the same style tunic, because they were easy to fight in, and cheap enough that I didn't have to worry if I ruined one or twelve.

Hiei finally walked in while I was braiding my hair. He looked around the room and smiled briefly before pulling out the bedrolls.

I sighed at the inch and a half of space he put between them. I had hoped that the times we'd shared a bed would get the hint through his crazy hair and into his brain, but it seemed my hopes were in vain. I sighed again.

He looked at me like I'd caught him with the last ice cream sandwich, again. (It had happened twice back in slower lower, and those looks were priceless.) "Is there something wrong?"

"I figured that as many times as we've shared, you'd have just set them up together." I gestured at the beds to show what exactly I was talking about.

"The times we have shared you were sick, or there had been a fight not related to training, and you were in need of comfort." he shrugged at me and sat on his bed.

"If it were just comfort, I would have gone to Kurama. He does comforting better than you." I sat on my bed facing Hiei.

He growled and inched closer.

"I didn't just want comfort, Hiei. I wanted to feel safe. The nights you share the bed with me are the safest I've felt since I saw all those imps go up in black flames."

He moved to sit next to me in the space between blinks. "You don't feel safe here?"

I shook my head. "That's not it. I feel protected here. I feel safe when you're around. I feel even safer in your arms. And then you run off and sulk over something that got a little too personal, and it makes me feel like you don't want me close, and all your claims to me are just for the job."

He reached out and touched my cheek like he thought I would break. "I had a really bad childhood, I have no idea how to treat a lover or a mate. And I don't think I'd live for very long if I treated you like some of the demons I traveled with did."

Images of large male demons mistreating their severely underfed women flashed through my head. "You would get away with all of two seconds before Lotus would break out and decide you're her new toy."

"And human romance isn't something I've tried to study."

"Meh, no worries. I'm romantic enough for the both of us." I giggled at the slight blush that crept up his cheeks.

He leaned in and kissed me. 'Shut up, Pyro.'

* * *

you naughty things, you probably thought there would be lemons here. Nope. Next chapter, I swear. They have to go through a little bit more crap before they get to have some niceness.

I would like to take this time to thank everyone who has alerted or favourited or even just read this story. Over 400 hits this month. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Please review!


	13. Chapter 13

The long awaited chapter of lemon has finally arrived. If you are too young to read lemons, I suggest you stop reading about halfway through the chapter. Oh yes, I am making you read non-lemon bits before the lemon, because I am evil like that.

White Rose Fox: thanks. Knowing there is a shock factor is always nice. :-)

DarkRoseDragon: ug! I hate when that happens! But you're back now. And just in time for lemons! ;-)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and any character that is not in the series or the manga who just so happens to pop up. (like the baddies, and pyro, and niyati.)

* * *

I was just awake enough to hear the door slide open and Yusuke's giggle. By the way Hiei loosened his grip on my waist, I knew he was awake too.

"Rise and shine, lovebirds! Can't slack off just because you went out finally." Yusuke crowed in his abnormal way.

I slowly rose up from the ground, still in my sleeveless tunic. "Dude, you are so getting beat for this."

"Dammit! Now I'm on clean up for a month!" Yusuke wailed.

"Not cool, Yusuke." I growled at the quasi-demon.

'Calm down, onna.' Hiei sounded almost like he was laughing.

"Man, you two are never gonna 'sleep together' are you?" He was whining and making air quotes, I assumed for Hiei's benefit.

"Detective, I suggest you run." Hiei smirked.

He ran down the hall. I took off after him, nearly knocking Keiko over.

"Sorry Kieko, I know you just got here, but I'm going to have to kill your man today." I called over my shoulder.

* * *

I managed to catch up with him outside. I suspected Kurama had something to do with it, because Yusuke seemed to trip over roots and tangled branches every two steps, yet my path was completely clear.

I grabbed a handful of his shirt front and punched the damn zombie in the face.

He flew backward several feet to land on his ass.

"Get up. I'm tired of your stupid games, zombie." I growled. I stood with my fists half raised and feet shoulder width apart, like he always stood when he got mad at me for getting the upper hand.

He sat up and wiped the blood off his chin. "Damn, that hurt. What the hell's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? I'm not the one constantly making bets on my friend's sex life, or lack thereof. What happens in that room is nobody's business but mine and Hiei's. And its only Hiei's business because he sleeps in there too." I hissed, waiting for him to stand so I could knock him down again.

The first clue I had to the change was Yusuke's mad backwards scramble away. I followed a few steps until a spiky-haired demon got in my way. "Onna, stop."

"Get out of my way, Hiei." I growled and tried to step around him.

"Your eyes are purple, and you're sending out your emotions like a mental beating." He grabbed my arms and refused to budge.

"Oh, shit..." I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to get calm.

"Detective, if you value our lives you will be out of her sight before she opens her eyes." Hiei growled, but held fast.

I heard footsteps running back the way we'd run from.

"You can open your eyes now." His voice was his usual gruff tones.

I shook my head, fearing I'd finally gone too far. I didn't trust my voice either, fearing her falsely seductive sounds would come out. My fear made me shake like a leaf.

"Pyro? I'm not mad at you. I want to make sure you're back in control, and I need to see your eyes." His voice was a lot more gentle, like it was when we were alone and he opened up to me.

I chanced a small peek.

"That's better. There's my onna's blue eyes. You calm now?" He smiled, to reassure me, but there was still a glimmer of fear in his eyes.

I nodded. "That was too close, Hiei." I slumped in his grip, the shaking in my legs making them buckle.

"You got her contained now?" His voice held steady, but I caught a small tendril of fear off him that I suspected had nothing to do with the bitch getting out.

"Yeah, just, please don't let go?" I clung to him, so I wouldn't fall.

He noticed how shaky I was and moved us to a seated position on the ground. "Relax, Pyro, you got her."

I looked him in the eyes. "Thanks to you, my brave oni-san, risking his life just to calm some crazy ningen."

He snorted. "Not just any crazy ningen, MY crazy ningen onna. The only scary part was the thought that I'd lost you."

"Oh, Hiei..." I broke down and fled back to the temple as fast as I could get my cursed feet to run. It was taking a page from his book of how to deal with tense moments, but I really couldn't handle it.

* * *

::You should have let me kill that little prick. Or at least play with him. Teach him a lesson.::

'Bitch, shut it. You inflict hurt, and we'll both fucking feel it, that's how the power works in this body, you stupid whore. Just because I'm pissed doesn't mean I want you to come out and deal with it. You're not touching the guys.'

I slapped down a few of the barriers Hiei had so painstakingly had me perfect. Then I sat in front of my altar that I had Yusuke bring from Delaware. Cauldron out, charcoal in, lit, and sprinkled with sage, lavender and chamomile. I needed to cleanse, and calm before I could face anyone in the temple again.

Several times in the hours I spent meditating and re-containing the bitch, I felt Hiei's unmistakable mental presence trying to get into my thoughts. Each and every time I just gave him a little shove away.

* * *

I emerged from my self-inflicted seclusion just after dinner. Kurama was still in the kitchen.

"You just missed Suzuka, he's gone back to the makai for a few days." Kurama sounded like nothing had happened earlier.

"I had something that needed doing, I'm sure he'll be back." I sat heavily in one of the chairs near the stove.

"Something to do with the reason Yusuke wet himself in the woods?"

Inwardly I groaned. "Everything to do with that. She almost got out."

He sat in a different chair close to me and put his hand on my knee. "Want to talk about it? I know what its like to have a demon inside. Literally."

I didn't really, but the words just started gushing out. "They were so scared, Kurama. I mean, you saw how Yusuke came back. And Hiei... oh gods I never want to see that look in his eyes again. So lost..." I curled up on myself as much as possible in the hard wooden chair. "I'm horrid."

He patted my shoulder. "We have all wanted to strangle Yusuke at one point or another, its just a side effect of living with him. And you know almost only counts..."

"In horseshoes and hand grenades, I know. But with her, you know she's a damn nuke waiting to go off."

"The important part is you caught her."

"Only because Hiei showed up. My eyes actually changed this time."

"Well, she still didn't get out. I suspect you have been reinforcing that 'mental box' you keep her in?" Kurama's nose twitched as he spoke.

"Sage, for the negative energies and mental cleansing." I giggled slightly at the undercover kitsune.

"And is that lavender?"

"And chamomile, to soothe and calm. Its a witch thing."

"Kitsune as well." He chuckled at my cocked eyebrow. "We don't just deal with fight-centric plants you know."

I nodded. "Don't tell anyone, but I have belladonna in my altar, just in case."

His eyes widened and shock smacked me in the head. "You really plan on using it?"

I shrugged. "I have to go find Yusuke, make my apology and all. Thanks for making me feel better." I started for the door.

"I think they went out to the clearing." Kurama called after me.

I heard him leave the room and knew when I got back, there would be no more belladonna in my altar. I sighed. There went one option to protect the boys.

* * *

I heard Hiei and Yusuke before I saw them. They must have been fighting since dinner ended, because both men were shiny from sweat and just a little blood. They broke apart for a few seconds, and I could see the look of deadly concentration they both wore. When they clashed again, their speeds were fast, but I could follow almost every hit.

Yusuke landed a particularly nasty kick on Hiei and threw him to land almost ten feet away, very close to where I was standing. Hiei caught sight of me and stood faster than he probably should. We just stared at each other.

"Hiei! You had enough?" Yusuke yelled. His laugh cut short as I locked eyes with him.

I walked quickly over to him. "Please accept my apology for my behavior this morning." I bowed. Hey, when in Rome and all that.

His hug nearly knocked me over. "After getting a stern talking-to from, well, everyone, I realize that I totally deserved that. I've been an ass, and I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

I started giggling at his puppy-dog pout. "I forgive you if you never do that again."

"Deal."

Hiei cleared his throat.

"Dude, let go before Hiei really decides to beat you." I giggled.

Yusuke let go and scratched his head. "Aw, come on, Hiei, it was just a friendly hug. S'not like I'm gonna try and steal her."

"Hn. I'd like to see you try." Hiei folded his arms and smirked.

I looked closer at Hiei's face, specifically the bleeding cut on his jawline. "Not easily breakable my ass, oni-san."

"Its a very nice ass. I enjoyed watching it at the concert last night." He smirked at me.

* * *

**Quick author's note. Anyone under 18, please to stop reading now. I do not want to get in trouble. Plzkthx.**

* * *

I stayed outside long after everyone else went in to bed and took out my anger at myself on any available tree.

'Come inside, onna. Its late, and I do not wish to stand out here anymore.' Hiei's snarky comment actually sounded a little like a request.

'You don't have to stand out here and watch me, oni-san.' I called up a fireball, then dismissed it, to prove my point.

'Actually, I do. To protect whomever pisses you off next.' he chuckled.

'Liar.' I started in toward the temple anyway. 'You just don't want to admit that the great and powerful Hiei, who is just fine on his own, is actually craving to cuddle with a human woman. It would be bad for your image.'

I knew I got to him, because I could actually hear him take off through the trees.

By the time I got back to the room, Hiei was shirtless, waiting beside only one bed set out and ready for someone to get in it.

I cocked an eyebrow at him as a question.

He shrugged. 'We only need the one.'

I giggled. "Good, cause for a second I thought that was your way of telling me Lord High Pacifier Mouth was sending you away on some kind of Spirit World biz."

Hiei's eyes flashed a darker, more murderous red for half a second. "The brat wouldn't dare, not after this morning."

I smiled and stepped closer to Hiei. "He may send Yusuke, as a danger to the mission."

"Don't worry. We all ganged up on him, and made sure to get the lesson across. No more bets on our lack of a sex life." Hiei chuckled.

"I like getting you alone. You actually cut loose."

"I'm not changing the subject."

I sighed. I knew demons were very physical, and territorial, and that I was pushing my luck making him wait. "But we only just got around to sharing a bed. And you only get the occasional peek when they steal my clothes."

"Which happens more and more often. And it gets harder and harder to think clearly when it happens." He seemed a little far away, and I could tell he was thinking about the last time it had happened. My towel had gone missing with my clothes, and all I had was a skimpy robe.

'If you keep thinking about it, I'm going to need a cold shower.' I tried to be annoyed, but I couldn't.

He just smirked at me.

I cocked my eyebrow at him again.

'Is it because I enjoy looking at you, or because you let your shields down?'

I blushed. 'Both.'

'Then why can't we? The demon bitch you locked up in your head?' He slowly slid his hand down the side of my neck to my arm, just below the curve of my shoulder.

I tried to not focus on how very good that felt. 'Because I don't know if she'll get out, and I really don't want to hurt you.'

He pulled me close and whispered directly into my ear. "You won't hurt me. I won't hurt you."

I shivered. "Promise?"

"You are always safe with me." he whispered in my other ear, then nibbled on it.

My eyes slid closed and I let out a soft moan. He nuzzled the crook of my neck, breathing in deeply.

::He's scenting you.:: the demon bitch giggled in my head.

I tried to back away, suddenly scared. Hiei held me still with his hands, and placed a few of his own barriers in my head.

I attempted another step back. He still held me close, and had his nose pressed to the side of my neck. "Pyro, be still."

His short growl had me obeying instantly. I made a small noise, but held perfectly still. A couple years of training under a previous lover came rushing to the surface.*

Hiei looked me in the eyes. "Do you know what you are doing?" He searched my mind, trying to figure it out.

I brought up a particularly vanilla, but pleasant scene I'd subbed in. "I am submitting to the obvious dominant partner." I closed my eyes again and swallowed hard at the sudden wave of lust that rose from him.

"You submit very easily, onna." Hs caresses on my arms were surprisingly gentle for the emotions coming out of him.

"Only to you, my oni-san." I willed myself to remain still through the intense need to just lean forward and kiss him.

He smirked. "I never thought your silly pet name would ever sound as arousing as you just made it sound." He leaned in a fraction of an inch and claimed my lips in a kiss.

I kissed back eagerly. When he licked my lips, I nipped his tongue before deepening the kiss. I kept myself stock still, waiting to be allowed to move.

Not even pausing the action of the kiss, or his hands on my sides and back, he finally realized what kind of dominance games humans are used to. 'You can move now, onna.'

One arm curled around and up to tangle my hand in his hair, the other hand splayed across his well defined back. I tugged on his hair just a little, to gauge his reaction.

He started kissing away from my mouth toward my ear. 'I want you to be quiet. You can make as much mental noise as you want, as long as the noise stays in your head.'

That might prove hard. 'Won't the others hear it?'

He nipped my ear. 'Only if they enter the room, and then they'll have an eyefull as well.'

I scratched his back lightly as a string of breathy Japanese curses rang through the house.

'It won't matter, they will all be too distracted by the detective's woman.' He smirked and pushed down on my shoulders in a silent command to kneel.

I knelt, my arms dropping to my sides. I never took my eyes off his.

He stepped back a little, looking me up and down. 'You're wearing too much. Remove your tunic, onna.'

I nearly ripped the collar as I yanked the tunic over my head and tossed it aside. I hadn't gotten dressed for the day after the incident that morning, so I was bare except for a pair of low-rise pink panties.

'Hm, better.' He leaned down and captured my lips in a bruising kiss.

I half expected the command to suck his cock. But he pushed me backward instead. I squeaked in surprise.

He slapped my thigh before I could say sorry. 'Mind to mind only. I will stop if you can't behave.' His pants went flying across the room, joined seconds later by my panties.

My nerves went on high alert as he just stood there and stared at me for a few seconds. I blushed as self conscious doubts began to rise.

'I would love to take my time and prove to you just how lovely I find every inch of your skin, but these past six months of being so near you and all the stolen clothes incidents have stolen my endurance.' He smirked at my blush.

I sat up slightly. 'Then please, oni-san?'

He knelt between my legs and pinned my hands over my head, forcing me flat again. 'Who said you could get up yet?'

'Wanted to touch you, make sure I'm not dreaming.' I pouted.

He nipped my stuck-out lower lip. 'Still think you're dreaming?'

I shook my head and arched my hips up. He thrust down to meet me halfway. I let out a mental moan when his cock slid all the way into me.

He set the pace, a hard rhythm that left me reduced to non-word sounds. He avoided my neck completely, keeping his lips on mine as much as possible.

The close we got to that moment of bliss, the more entwined our minds became. When he finally pushed us both over the edge into an earth-shaking orgasm, our minds were completely tangled, sharing thoughts and memories.

He rested his forehead on mine, mingling our breath as we both came down from the high and our minds untangled. No words were needed to let me know that what had happened was not a normal thing for his encounters. I still shared his thoughts.

After a few minutes, when our minds were almost fully separate again, he got up carefully and headed for the door. 'I'll be right back.'

He returned with two damp cloths. I got up on my knees, took one, and carefully cleaned the stickiness off him. When I finished, he returned the favour.

I moved to the side of the bed, forgotten in our play. 'Cuddles and sleep?' I couldn't keep the moment of fear that he wouldn't want to share out of my thoughts.

'Do you really think I will ever let you sleep alone again?' He smirked and held the blanket up for me to slide under. Before my head hit the pillow, he had my back firmly pressed to his front and his arms around me.

* * *

*s&m slave training. Its completely consentual, and only goes as far as the sub is willing to take it. (if you really need to know details, ask, and I'll do my best to explain it.) the dom I mention is actually my current boyfriend, and he is VERY responsible when I safeword out.

whew. That was a long chapter. But I promised you the lemon in this chapter, so the lemon is in this chapter. {goes off to hide from the flames}


	14. Chapter 14

Hello to everyone who is still with me after the last chapter. This is the chapter where I randomly thank people and beg for reviews, so, thank you so very very much to everyone who has added this story to their alerts and faves, you make me feel really proud of my little brain baby here. Thank you readers, for giving me such freaking awesome stats. And reviews are like crack to me. I'm addicted, and y'all are my suppliers, so please deal some more!

White Rose Fox: which part are you cheering Hiei on about. (I'm curious like a cat, so I had to ask)

DarkRoseDragon: so glad I could render you speechless sweetheart. Did it make your vote for it worth it?

* * *

Even with the craziness of the first time with Hiei mixing with a rather odd trip into sub-space*, I still managed to be the first one awake at the temple. Ok, I didn't manage, Lotus decided to start invading my head with rather dirty memories of some of her conquests. I couldn't stay next to Hiei with _that_ going on in my head, so I headed off to take my turn cooking breakfast.

My cooking always managed to amuse the hell out of my Asian protector-senseis. Whenever it was my turn, I cooked meals that reminded me of home and how normal life was before all the crap with Lotus. Today was made-from-scratch pancakes and bacon, with fruits to balance it out.

Focusing on remembering the Pennsylvania Dutch family recipe and getting the bacon just to crispy, not burned, helped get _her_ memories out of my head.

I sensed Kurama before he spoke. "Mornin, fox."

He chuckled at the slight flour mess on the counter. "One of your American-style breakfasts again?" his arm snaked around my shoulder toward the bacon.

I laughed and swatted his hand. "Shut the hell up. You're home and spent your life in this kind of craziness. I'm on the other damn side of the planet and still getting used to it."

"Sorry. Can I help at all?" He succeeded in snitching a piece of bacon, and hurried out of swatting range.

"You can cut up those fruits next to the batter."

He sniffed loudly.

I turned to look at him.

"You just smell a bit like fire demon, that's all." He shrugged and busied himself with sorting out the items in front of him.

I turned back to the stove just in time to rescue the last bits of meat from burning. "Still? Damn. I scrubbed in the shower this morning too."

He grew a jasmine in his hand while I finished mixing the batter. Before I turned, he carefully set it behind my ear. "Would not be good for either of you if the others came in and hassled you over your timing."

I grinned up at him. "Thanks, fox. You're like the best big brother I never had."

Hiei growled on his way to greet me at the stove. "Fox, I swear you want to fight again." He stood close and slipped an arm around my waist. Possessive, but it felt good, so I let him stay.

"Oh relax, oni-san." I whispered the reason for the flower directly in his ear.

Hiei's eyes went very wide for a moment. "Oh, never mind then." He sniffed my shoulder. "Hmm, her shampoo, her soap, a hint of smoke, and bacon." He shot a teasing grin at Kurama.

"You don't smell the jasmine? I must be losing my touch." Kurama sighed and returned to mixing the cut fruits in a bowl.

"You neglected to take into account that she always smells of her very floral shampoo. The jasmine blends in with that. The hint of smoke is the wooden spatula going up in flames." Hiei said, nudging me.

I looked down, and the spatula was resting just on the edge of the fire, flames licking along the side. "Shit on a shingle!"

"Oh man, is that what you're burning?" Yusuke stifled a yawn and looked in the pan.

I nearly threw the burning item in the sink. "No. I burned the damn spatula. I blame Hiei." I glared into the flames and water. Oil fires and water... bad idea kids.

Since the jasmine was on the side Yusuke couldn't see, Kurama made a show of putting it back behind my ear again. "Wouldn't do to give the others any ideas."

"Why the hell would it be the wrong idea? I mean, we all know they sleep in the same bed." Yusuke asked.

I gave Kurama a silent look of gratitude while Hiei turned on the zombie.

"You really don't understand demons yet, do you, detective?" Hiei rolled his eyes and brought the tray of bacon to the table.

"Oh, is it time for another demon politics lesson? I love those." Kuwabara asked, settling into his usual spot.

"Shut up, baka." Hiei snapped.

Kurama helped me bring the rest of the food to the table. Jin floated in sniffing loudly, followed closely by Touya, Genkai and Yukina.

"And what did ya ruin that won't be gracin the table?" Jin laughed.

"I burnt the spatula." I blushed.

"S'long as its not yer cookin, its alright." Jin touseled my hair fondly on his was past. "Good save, Kurama."

"I am so confused!" Yusuke wailed. He would have fallen over, but the plates were being passed around.

Kurama remained silent a few moments, using a mouthful of bacon to collect his thoughts. "In the makai, we don't exactly have the same kind of, um, mating customs, as here in ningenkai. His instincts and actions have claimed her in his direct protection, but that is an ambiguous category, so other demon males would not have a problem truly fighting her, so long as they don't kill her."

"That's kind of twisted." Kuwabara mumbled. He flicked a glance at Yukina, then back down at his plate.

"Not really." Kurama continued. "The twisted part is the way demons treat a demon's female mate, and how they can tell. Hiei smells like smoke, its a spiced smoke, but only a demon who really knows him knows the difference between his scent and, say, a burnt spatula."

"So, because the smoke from the fire is on her, other demons think she's his mate?" Yusuke asked.

"Exactly, and they won't even try hard if they were to spar. In mated pairs, if one gets hurt, the other knows, and even if the female happens to be very powerful, if she gets hurt, her mate might show up and, um, eliminate the threat." Kurama shrugged. He avoided my eyes, because he knew I hated that kind of behaviour.

"Ok, let me get this straight. We've all tossed her around, and we know she burned the spatula, so we're good with still throwin her around during training. But say Shishi shows up, and smells smoke on 'er. You're saying he'd just let her thrash him?" Yusuke said. He was a little on the slow side.

"Right, because he would assume that Hiei had finally cemented his claim on her as his mate." Kurama replied.

"But we all know he has." Yusuke said.

"Not really. Its unspoken." Jin pointed out.

"No, he spoke it. To Niyati at the concert. I believe his words after the concert were, 'the onna is mine, affection-guzzler.'" I said. I didn't look up from my hands, because I was pissed. This was medieval bullshit.

"Damn. I really wanted a rematch." Touya grumbled. I could hear his grin.

"I didn't mark her." Hiei said very quietly.

"What?" Kuwabara asked

"I did not mark my onna. She is mine, but I did not mark her. Fight her all you like, but if you hurt her too much, I am not responsible for how badly I will hurt you in return." Hiei glared around the table, daring someone to say something.

Kurama squeezed Hiei's shoulder. He whispered something I just barely made out as, "good, but do so soon if you plan to keep her."

I glared at the fox. "Y'all are fuckin chauvinists. I'm a grown woman, not a damn prize brood mare."

"Its just an evolutionary need in a chaotic place like the makai. Protect the women, to protect the next generation." Touya said matter-of-factly.

I just rolled my eyes.

"So, Feochadan, wanna rematch to get that aggression at us out?" Touya grinned.

I laughed at the way the ice master put up his hands in a mock defense position. "Why the hell not?"

"Um, Feochadan? Do I need to remember to do like we do with Kurama at his mom's house?" Kuwabara asked, his confusion giving him an empty-headed look.

"No." I flicked a small bit of berry at his head. "Feochadan is part of the name I gave you when we met. I am Pyro Feochadan, witch extraordinaire. My real name shall never pass my lips again, nor will you ever see pictures or any mention of my family."

Yukina's eyes went wide and locked on mine. "You would have them think you dead?"

I kept my eyes locked on hers. "Kina, I know that's how Hiei played you for the longest time, but my family is very very fragile, and not able to protect themselves. When I severed ties, I could barely keep myself in one piece, so I let them think I died in the demon explosion that killed my lover at the time. The moving out thing I told the boys was a lie, I was only going to make sure mom didn't burn my altar."

She looked down first. "You're right. Its not very good, but its for the best." She was very quiet, then winked in my direction. "At least you're not looking them in the eye and telling that lie."

Hiei paled. "Yukina..."

"No, its ok brother, I don't mind." She giggled at his response.

"Sibling teasing, gods how I miss it." I laughed.

"Wait," Yusuke held up his hands. "if you're legally listed as dead, how were you in an apartment and holding a job?"

I grinned. "Ever the detective, neh, zombie?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "Just answer the question."

I reached into my pocket and produced my mini dragon Tarot deck. I moved my plate and laid out several cards. "People around my city may say they condemn witchcraft and psychics, but I did twenty readings a day."

"See? I told you that's what that gypsy costume in her closet was for!" Kuwabara reached over and slapped Yusuke in the head.

I held up the tower card. "I pulled this the day I met you guys, a day after I lost it on someone and she nearly got out. That's how I knew a demon would be coming, because when she gets out..."

Something made several trees fall out in Genkai's forest.

"They find me." I whispered.

* * *

Cards forgotten, we raced through the forest toward the sound. Only Genkai stayed behind, claiming the need to guard the building. She yelled that she'd take care of my cards for me.

I stayed toward the back of the pack, so that they would let me stay on the hunt. They growled at me to go back to Genkai, but I had to know who it was this time.

The demon was in full demon form, and HUGE, but his energy was familiar to me. "Give me what is mine, and I will spare you."

That voice stopped me dead in my tracks, twenty yards from where the demon stood. I started to shake all over.

Hiei seemed to materialize in front of me. He grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eye. "What's wrong?"

I couldn't get my voice to work. My thoughts weren't much better. 'I-its him... oh gods it can't be... he...'

"Who is he?" Hiei shook me a little.

It cleared my head a bit. I was safe, Hiei would make sure. "He's the one who tried to kill me, the one you saw in my head." I whispered.

Hiei growled, and his aura flared to become visible.

I grabbed his shirt before he could run. "Please be careful, Hiei. Don't let me watch you die."

He kissed me hard. 'Not a chance, onna. He'll be the one Botan delivers to Hades.' He sped off before I could make him swear it.

The huge demon laughed when Hiei took up a position in his path. "You're her guardian? I'll squish you with one step."

"Hn. You could try." Hiei shrugged. "I will warn you, the woman is mine, and I have no intention of letting her go."

I knew Hiei was smirking. His words made my heart skip a beat or three.

The demon rolled all six of it's eyes. "That girl is nothing but a stain on the planet. She'll just break you apart. Let me remove her for you, save you the trouble."

"Nah, I think I'll keep her around for a while." Hiei was being a smartass, which meant it was going to get messy soon.

The demon let out a wave of energy that crashed on us like a tsunami.

* * *

*sub-space=the lovely kind of buzzy place a submissive goes in their mind when playing a scene. endorphins are lovely like that

Oooo cliffie! Haven't done one of those in a while. Reviews help me resolve it faster!


	15. Chapter 15

Hello my lovelies! I have returned to resolve my evil evil cliffie. It's a longer chapter again. Had a last minute scene that just BEGGED to be included.

DarkRoseDragon: wait no more my dear, here's the fight.

* * *

I braced myself before the wave of power struck, the force nearly knocking me down. When it faded, Kuwabara was laid out on the ground, Yukina next to and tending to him. Yusuke seemed shaken, but I was too afraid of dropping my shields to find out how badly. Hiei was in his full green, multi-eyed demon form and laughing at the larger male.

"How do you still stand?" it roared in frustration.

'Pyro?' His mental voice held a small amount of fear.

I sent him a mental hug. 'Standing. Learned it. Fry his ass.'

"You fail, weakling." Hiei growled. Black fire danced around his hands.

The larger male roared and shook his fists. "I can not fail! I am Eoghan, I always kill what I aim at!" He powered up again.

I planted my feet more firmly as the wave crested. I glanced around me at the demons trying to be protection detail. In the split second before the energy wave broke, I decided they couldn't take another hit and pulled the energy into myself.

It was a long shot. I didn't think it would work, but it did. The wave disappeared.

Hiei, ever the strategist, took the opening of the shock of my move and sent a blast of his Mortal Flame attack at Eoghan. The mountainous demon staggered under the combined blows of stolen energy and the black flames Hiei controlled.

"You will not be that lucky a second time, demon bitch!" Eoghan roared and sent another wave of energy.

I pulled the energy in again. It didn't quite work the same way, and the wave crashed over my head. It had nowhere near the strength of the first two attacks, so I was ok. And the others were spared the hits.

Hiei hit the demon with another blast of Mortal Flame, and I sent one of the fireballs I had learned back in that Delaware alley powered by Eoghan's energy wave that I stole. Both hit at the same time.

Eoghan burned for an hour.

* * *

The proper reports had to be filed, and I had to appear before Koenma again, to discuss my new-found ability to steal energy unleashed in an attack. None of the boys had been allowed in the room as Koenma and I talked, and I was sworn to never turn my ability against Spirit World. Not that I ever would have anyway.

Hiei was at my side as soon as I stepped out of the portal at the edge of Genkai's forest. He nudged me toward a small copse of trees. "I told you to tell me where that baka lived."

I slid down one of the trees to sit on the ground. I had been a while at Koenma's, and he's not big on chairs for people coming to talk to him. "I didn't know he was a demon. I thought he was just some jackass." I snapped.

He sat next to me and pulled me into a fierce hug. "I probably should have mentioned that." He kissed the top of my head. "Why didn't you tell me you could commandeer attacks like that?"

"Because I didn't know I could until I tried it?" I sat up and fidgeted with my fingers.

"You risked your life on a what if?"

I ducked my head.

"You could have been killed, that thing I'm trying to prevent." He started a low-level growl in the back of his throat.

"And you and the others wouldn't have been able to stand!" I yelled. "I had to risk it. That first power tsunami hit all of you really hard. I couldn't let him hurt you again." I broke down in tears.

He pulled me in close again and stroked my hair. "I'm not mad. It worked, everyone lives."

"Kuwabara's still out cold."

"His mental shields have never been very good."

I punched the ground next to his leg. "I hate that I have to take a hit to learn it."

"Meh, he would have fallen no matter what you did. The idiot's getting too old for this. Last years invasion did more than leave physical scars on him." Hiei kept his touch light, but I could feel the slight tremor at that thought.

"If he's getting too old, then what does that mean for me? And Kurama, for that matter." I shifted to look Hiei in the eyes. "I'm not that much younger than him, what's gonna happen when I start to decline?" It was a loaded question.

He hummed a little. "You will most likely be like the old woman. You work hard to keep yourself trained and at top form. She may not be the legend she once was, but she can still roast anything that comes after her." He laughed.

I punched his shoulder at half power. "Don't laugh, Hiei, I'm serious! You're a demon, you have, like, hundreds of years till you get old. I've got decades at best."

"Oww! Dammit, you getting weak needs to happen soon." He rubbed the shoulder I punched with a pout on his face.

"Oh suck it up... wimp."

"What did you just call me?"

The flare of his anger made me giggle. "I didn't stutter."

He pounced and knocked me flat on my back. "Take it back, onna."

"Nope." I shook my head and giggled harder.

"I'm not a wimp. I am a mighty demon slayer."

I took advantage of his overconfident lax hold on me and threw him off to the side without the tree. "When I help, maybe." I pounced and held him down.

"It was all me that time in Delaware." He rolled us both to pin me again.

"After I got hurt."

He growled and tightened his grip slightly. Not enough to hurt, just to let me know I crossed a line.

"And I took out the one the day we met."

He growled again. "That's only since we met. I've slain hundreds in my lifetime."

"Oh, so you're letting me catch up then?"

"Maybe I'm just making you believe I'm a wimp, so I can impress the hell out of you and sweep you off your feet." He gave me a wink.

"Oh. My. Gods. You went and read Yukina's stash of mushy romance novels, didn't you?" I gasped in shock. Surly Hiei, my surly, I-don't-do-romance Hiei just pulled a cheesey romance novel line. The world was definitely about to end.

"Maybe..." He blushed so deep red his eyes almost got lost.

"Aww! So sickeningly cute!" I giggled. "But please, don't ever do that again. Cheesey romance lines don't suit you dear."

"It seems to always work in the books."

Hah, busted. "That's because its fiction. It works because the writer wrote the girls to be silly and fall for things like that."

"That actually explains a lot..."

I freed my arm and ruffled his permanently spiked hair, then immediately squashed the thought that my parents would hate him based solely on his hair and clothes. "Silly Hiei. Reading cheesey romances is for girls."

He leaned back and smirked. "So where's your stash?"

I totally led myself into that. "I am definitely not a girl, I'm a woman with a jaded core. Those saccharine-sweet drugstore novels piss me off. The novels I read have vampires and werewolves and gods with nasty sadistic streaks that make some of the demons you've faced look like kittens." I sat up a little and leaned on my elbows. "And the pair that ends up mated at the end start out hating each other, and both nearly die at least once before they decide they love one another." I giggled, because that's almost how our relationship had developed.

He gave me a little shove back flat. "I didn't say you could sit up."

I started to sit up again. "Bite me, I'll sit up whenever I bloody well want." I was in a mood to make him fight me for dominance. I couldn't be easy to top all the time.

He bit my shoulder. "Stay down, onna."

I made a feline growl. Like I've said, I picked up a lot from my cats. "Make me, oni-san."

He had just pressed his lips to mine when fur and rose scented vines pulled us in opposite directions.

"Damn. Kurama." Hiei growled and yanked the vines, succeeding only in tying himself tighter.

The red head in question made his appearance. "Can't you two keep a lid on it?"

"Can't you go a week without tying me up in vines?" I grumbled at the smug kitsune. I thought a little and the vines slid from both Hiei and me.

"Just as I thought." Kurama smirked.

"Totally winging it. No idea it would really work. Gods I hope Lord High Pacifier Mouth doesn't count that as using that power against Spirit World." I pressed a hand to my face and sighed. The death god had promised me a cell in Spirit World lockup if I did.

"You're damn lucky. Especially with that last one. And Koenma told us to train you with it, so no jail cell for you." Kurama said, the smirk fading fast.

Hiei gave me a look that said I would be explaining later. "We all are. Remember when I told her to tell me where the man who had tried to kill her lived?" He effectively changed the subject.

"You mean the vow that gave away your fondness for her? Yes, I remember the pain you promised him." Kurama chuckled.

Hiei broke into a broad grin. "Don't need to find him anymore. We killed him."

Kurama laughed openly. "Ok, so I was a bit wrong about that. Assumed he was human."

"Moi aussi, mon ami." I patted the fox's shoulder.

Hiei kicked a rock through a tree. "We may eventually have been called out to arrest that one. We should have before now, but Koenma doesn't care if they only ATTEMPT to kill humans." he grumbled under his breath.

I threw my arms around the pissy fire demon. "I wouldn't change a single moment of that time. Made me the uber bitch I am today."

* * *

I needed to be alone. I hadn't been alone since the last incident with Lotus, and I was getting sick of the boys. For an entire week after destroying Eoghan they would randomly launch attacks at me just to train the new ability and test my limits. It was starting to get on my last nerve, so I gathered up a couple of the training scarecrow dummies, my music, strapped a bokken to my back and took off into the woods.

I told Yukina where I was, and to immediately tell Hiei if I was gone more than a few hours. She gave me one of those smiles that said 'honey, you're a little slow' and said, "He'll know the second your energy flares and be at your side, sword drawn, before anyone even knows there's a fight."

I dropped the dummies at the edge of the clearing and set up my speakers. Bat Country, by Avenged Sevenfold poured into the silence. I used the song to pace the Tae Kwon Do forms that I was using to warm up.

The song switched to Innervision by System of a Down. Instead of setting the dummies around in positions and hitting them, I decided to see if I could make them move. By the end of the song I had them completely mobile, and armed with sticks.

Lady Boy by RuPaul came up next. The dummies were tied in to the tempo of the music, so the attacks and my defense seemed almost dance-like. I grinned and lost myself in the music and fight.

* * *

Hiei's POV

* * *

Her power flared. It was far out in the woods in a direction she'd never run off in, and there was no one even close to her. I ran in the direction of her energy flare. I would have to remember to talk to her about this if she is not hurt.

As I neared the place I felt the flare, I drew my katana, sure to have to end a very messy fight. When I reached the clearing, I stopped. The sight was not at all the bloodbath I had expected.

She was in a pair of tights that went to her knees and a very small top that just contained her, chest. Her stomach and arms were bare, bruised in places and speckled with dirt and debris. Her bokken flashed, barely blocking the stick weapons of the things she was fighting.

One stumbled closer to my position and I recognized it as one of the training dummies from the temple, armed with a stick and moving on its own. I took half a step forward before I realized they were moving in tempo with the music she had playing. The onna singing said something about a disco stick. I added that to the list of strange ningen things to ask her about.

The song changed, and so did the tempo of the fighters' movements. The dummies nearly had her down, but she threw them back with a yelled curse. The dummies did not get up. She still whirled and spun to the music. The onna in the song said something about a bad romance, and Pyro did a move I had seen in a ningen dance exhibition Kurama had dragged me to. I remembered thinking it boring then, but hypnotic with my onna.

* * *

Pyro's POV

* * *

I took the cool down period to practice my very rusty belly dance skills. I had just finished the hip drops when the clatter of metal on rock told me I wasn't alone anymore, but safe, because my audience was spell bound. I grinned, but kept my back turned. "Took ya long enough to come after me, Hiei."

He coughed slightly. "You shouldn't leave like that."

I laughed and shook my head. "I didn't just wander off. Did you enjoy watching me?"

"You didn't tell me you were leaving the temple." His voice hadn't gotten any closer. That meant he was worried, and was resisting the urge to nuzzle into my neck. He liked to do that from time to time, especially after a particularly nasty hit in training.

"Kina knew, she would have let you know if I was lost." I moved to collect the fallen dummies.

He got there first. "You should have told me about this power." He shook a dummy for emphasis.

I shrugged. "Wanted some sparring partners, had a few dummies going spare, so I decided to just try it. I think I learned it from being so completely in your head." I tapped his forehead, then went and shoved all the music stuff back in a small bag.

"Your new penchant for experimenting will lead to an early death for me."

"Oh shut it. I know damn well how much you experimented every time you got a new power. Man, you experimented with that jagan for well over two years. And I know that if you didn't get scared about accidentally offing me, you'd be testing that dragon on me."

"You remember what you saw when we were twined?"

"Of course. You are important to me, therefore I have tried to remember everything that I think pertinent." I started off for the temple.

"Pertinent?" He stood in my way and refused to let me pass.

"Yeah, you know, relevant to my oni-san?" I crossed my arms and glared at him just as hard as he was glaring at me.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. The things that make you, well, you. The pertinent stuff."

He dropped the dummies. "Just how much did you see?"

I smiled at his very small, shocked voice. "If its in your head, I saw it. Honestly, Hiei, I didn't see a damn thing that would ever make me think any less of you." I grabbed the dummies by an arm each, slung them over my shoulder and walked toward the temple again.

'You still feel the same?' He was shocked again. But at least this time his shock held a note of relief.

I didn't turn to him. Didn't trust myself to not pounce on him. 'I feel the same, and damn lucky to have you the way you are. You could have become like Eoghan, or Niroth.'

'I'm not. I'd never be like them.' He was suddenly beside me again, with his arm around my waist.

"But you could have been. The demons that raised you..."

"I'm not like that. I have honour." He cut off my words and pulled me closer.

"Thank the gods for that." I breathed.

He gave me a quick squeeze, then took the dummies from me. "Can I ask you a question about your music?"

I giggled. "Anything for a change of topic."

"The onna who was singing the song I showed up during, she said something about a disco stick. What is that?"

I gaped at him. The question was delivered so innocently, like a small child's curiosity. After a moment I shook my head and laughed.

"What did I say that was funny?" His bewildered expression made me giggle a little more.

I started walking again. "You're serious?"

He kept pace with me. "I wouldn't ask if I weren't."

I ducked my head so my hair would hide my blush. "Its a dick, Hiei. She wants a casual mate."

We remained silent for the rest of the walk back.

* * *

Ok, the playlist is as follows: Bat Country-A7X, Innervision-SOAD, Lady Boy- RuPaul, Love Game- Lady Gaga, and Bad Romance- Lady Gaga. All songs owned by the people with the copyrights.

Updates should happen a little more quickly now, I've finally published my book.


	16. Chapter 16

Once again its random disclaimer time. As if we didn't all know by now, I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, nor any of the characters therein. I own Pyro, Niyati and unfortunately I own Eoghan and Niroth as well. I swear I'll put the boys back the way they were when I'm done playing with them.

WARNING! There will be another super sappy scene at the end of the chapter. Why? Because I am a hopeless romantic, and so is my OC.

DarkRoseDragon: thanks. I thought that last scene was funny too. Massive giggle attacks.

* * *

We went back to our normal. They just added a few powers to the workout, and went on like nothing had happened. Hiei sparred me more often, but never let me win with that big a margin again.

I worked harder than ever. Lotus seemed to enjoy her new ability to share her memories with me as I slept, so I barely slept anymore. It didn't stop me from working beyond what was expected. It was probably too much.

After two months of this pattern, we all found out just how much I over did it. I freaking collapsed. One minute I was sparring Suzuka, and winning, the next minute I was staring at the sky. At least, I thought it was a minute.

"Hiei, you can stop trying to kill Suzuka. She's awake." I knew that voice, but could not for the life of me remember who it belonged to.

I slowly pushed myself to a sitting position.

"Easy," the voice's owner put a hand on my back to help me. "you took a hard fall. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Just sore, and a little dizzy." I drew my knees up to rest my head on them while I waited for the world to stop spinning.

"Pyro, I need you to look up."

I lifted my head and saw a boy with impossibly red hair. He had his hand up.

"How many fingers?" he said. He had his hand wide open, like he was waving.

"Four, and a thumb." I answered.

He chuckled. "Humour's the same. Do you remember where you are?"

So I knew him. I looked around. "Coulda swore I was home, but based on your accent and the shit ton of bamboo, um, maybe Japan?"

His eyes went wide a second. They were pretty eyes, very green. But I wanted to see a pair of unnatural red eyes. "Do you know your name?" the red head asked.

"Pyro Feochadan. Or Phoenix... which alias do I know you in?" I replied. I looked around for the red eyes.

"She's fine, I think." The red head stood, and turned to people I hadn't been able to see before now.

"Really, dude. Who are you and which name do you know me as?" I craned my neck to squint up at him. "And where the hell is Hiei?" I could feel a panic attack.

Warm, smoke scented arms wrapped around me from behind. "Calm down, onna, I haven't gone anywhere." His voice was soothing, but worried.

"Well, at least she remembers him." It was another voice I knew but couldn't place, the owner had orange hair. This was getting freaky.

"I remember those voices, but I have no idea who they are. I mean, I should know them." I was now officially in freakout mode.

"But you remember me? Do you remember why you're here?" Hiei asked.

"Of freaking course I remember you! With a blade like the one you aimed at me, I won't be forgetting anytime soon." I laughed a little. "Mind telling me where exactly 'here' is?"

Hiei growled slightly. "If you're just messing with me..." His voice held a warning.

"I wouldn't do that oni-san." I turned to give him a shocked and scared look. "Where the hell am I, and how the hell did I get here?"

"Hiei, when was the last time she took a day off from training?" the red head was speaking again. I decided to let them talk like I wasn't there, maybe I'd get a clue about where I was.

"The last demon attack." Hiei replied, watching me for any sign of remembering.

That was one question answered, Lotus had gotten out again. I only get attacked when she shows up.

"And has she been sleeping ok?" the red head pressed on.

Another question answered, Hiei was in my room. Damn, she must be taking over in my sleep, if they have someone posted in my room.

"She likes to think I don't know, but she's awake long after I actually fall asleep, and awake long before I am. When she sleeps, she is plagued by nightmares." Hiei sighed.

I stood and brushed off my ass. "So how bad has the bitch in my head been misbehaving? You said there was an attack, right?" I wobbled slightly. Hiei had his arm around me in half a second.

"She's simply exhausted. And the concussion doesn't help matters. We should get her back to the temple." The red head moved to take my arm.

Hiei picked me up in a fireman's carry. "I will carry her, fox. Your touch might scare her."

It was a loaded comment I would ask about later. I threw my arms around Hiei's neck. "I knew you liked me!"

The pained look he shot me said more than the words that followed could. "More than you ever knew, onna."

* * *

"Did I miss another good fight?" A black haired boy met us in the back garden of a rather bland temple.

"I remember him, Hiei! He's the zombie!" I was proud of myself. Don't ask his name though.

"Yes, Pyro, he's the zombie." Hiei looked happier when he sat me on the raised porch area.

"You remember me? What the hell happened? Was it the clown? Did you kill him Hiei?" The zombie's quick-fire questions made my head hurt again.

"She collapsed from exhaustion during a fight. Her memories are, ah, fuzzy, at best." The red head put his hand on the zombie's shoulder, like he was making him calm down.

The fuzzy made something click. "Now I remember! You're the kitsune, Kurama!"

"Yes, but don't try so hard. That's what got you into this mess in the first place, thistle." Kurama shook his head like he was exasperated, but I could feel the surge of happy at being remembered.

I jumped down. "I need to remember! I'm missing something, and whatever it is is hurting Hiei. I can't keep hurting him!" I shouted. I wanted to get in the damn kitsune's face so bad, but glaring him down wouldn't help, so I started pacing.

Hiei got in front of me, grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eye. "Trying too hard will make your condition worse, Pyro, and that will hurt me more than you not remembering for a little longer." His tone was flat, but the undercurrent of emotions was way out of control.

I shook him off and punched a wall. "I need to remember!"

"Please, Pyro, calm down." Kurama reached out to touch my shoulder.

I dodged his hand. "I will not! I have put up with a lot in the past few years, and I will not just calm down."

Kurama blew some kind of dust at my face.

It must have been some kind of knockout dust. Someone caught me as I keeled, and I heard murmured apologies as the world faded away.

* * *

I woke up not seeing her memories for the first time in forever, it seemed. That should have been a relief, but it forced me fully awake and screaming. Smoke scented arms tightened around me, and a leg wrapped around mine, keeping me from thrashing around.

"H-Hiei?" I was hoping it was him, but I couldn't be sure they hadn't another fire demon around.

"I'm here, Pyro, you're safe." His breath tickled my neck.

I relaxed a little. "You might not be. I can't find her."

He tensed. "What?"

"Lotus is missing."

"Did you check the new place?"

"I moved her?"

"After she got out a couple months ago. Well, almost. I got you back before you killed Yusuke."

"Oh, I really only have memories up to meeting Rinku, and the mishap with Chu." I sniffled a little. I wasn't crying, really. My nose was runny. "And I remember Kurama and his weird pixy dust."

Since I was now calm, he started playing with my hair. "Can I look around in your head for Lotus? I swear I won't let her out, I'm just gonna make sure she's where she was the last time I looked." He pressed a soft kiss just below my ear.

I giggled. "While you're in there, if you could find the memory of what I did to earn such sweetness from my surly firebug I would be forever grateful."

"Hmm..." His arms left my sides, where they had been resting. I figured it was to take his bandana off.

I shifted so that I could look at him. I really liked the colour of his jagan eye.

"Right where you locked her." He leaned in a bit closer. "You sure you wanna lay like that for this memory?"

"Just please, Hiei. I don't want to not know what we did." I closed my eyes, so I wouldn't have to see the fleeting hurt look in his again, and hit my head on the floor. I knew it wouldn't help, but it would shake up the bane of my existence a little.

The memory floated up with a soft chuckle from Hiei. With it came all the tidbits I'd learned about his past. Still didn't remember the leading up to, or the afterwards. "Oh dear gods, how could I forget an experience that epic?"

"You're trying too hard, and not sleeping enough. The pixy dust, as you call it, is a pollen that works as a sedative." He sat up and tied his bandana back over his eye. "You remember more if you sleep."

"I just, I want to master what y'all are teaching me. If I do, then I can be pretty certain she won't get out before you can stop me." I sighed.

"But you barely remembered anything yesterday, just me, and that I made you feel safe."

"And your katana. Man, being at the business end of that thing is freaky as hell." I giggled, remembering seeing him across the burning demon's corpse.

"Kurama swore you'd forget that." Hiei sounded a little shocked.

"Kurama's a jerk, keeps lumping me in with the 'normal' people. Not normal, never have been. Thanks to Lord High Pacifier Mouth, I can't say that I might be in another life."

"Oh good, you remember Koenma." A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.

"He's a jerk too."

"But he's only given you powers, not asked you to use them for him."

"True. But the way he made sure my human powers could counter the demon could have been handled better."

"Meh, the way it worked out made you just right to balance me." His voice was soft, and he looked me dead in the eye.

It was a soft, romantic moment. I smiled up at him. "But, Hiei, you are still unbalanced. And you always will be." I sat up briefly to kiss the tip of his nose.

He rubbed it furiously. "Why do you keep doing that?"

I shrugged. "Its there. Its kissable."

"You are a strange woman."

"And you love me, so what does that say about you?"

"Who told you?" His shocked look was priceless.

"You do. Every day. And you don't even know it." I winked at him.

He gave me a look that told me to talk.

"Its the way your hand lingers a few seconds longer after making my stance perfect. The way you always have a brainwave on me, no matter what, and show up in seconds. You are the first one to get in the way of anything trying to kill me. And how you talk with me like a normal person when we're alone, but you're still all surly and silent around the others." I pulled him back down to cuddle.

He grinned and pulled me as close as possible. "I had no idea I was being that transparent."

"Clear as glass, dollface."

He pulled back a little and made a face. "Do not confuse me with my sister, onna."

"Never! Honestly, I just don't want to deal with a weepy sister-in-law after I beat the crap out of her darling Kazuma for even thinking I want the female twin." I silently prayed to all the gods that he'd not notice the slip about Kina being my sister-in-law.

Conflicting emotions came out of the firebug. He wanted to be pleased, but at the same time he wanted to be offended for his sister's sake. "Okay.."

I propped myself on my elbow to look him in the eye. "Don't get me wrong, Hiei, I love your sister, she's a wonderful girl. But I'm not the kind of person who likes their, um, mate to be all demure and non-combative."

Confusion swept his features. Not as fast as it would have if we were around his team, but still pretty fast. "You like that I argue with you?"

"Pssht. Its not so much arguing as it is challenging me. I like that you can get me to think twice, or even three times, about things." I grinned at him. "You challenge me to be better."

He snorted. "Its not my fault you're soft, like a normal ningen."

I grinned. "As I now recall, you rather enjoy my softness." I winked.

He growled. "Don't bring that up now, onna."

"Fights are gonna be interesting in our future." I paused as my stomach tried to hug my spine. I got up and held my hand out to Hiei. "Come with me to the kitchen, my dear firebug, we both require sustenance."

He grabbed my hand and allowed me to pull him up. 'I think I'd rather stay here, but you're right.'

* * *

please to review? (my regs are disappearing, motivation is dropping... so please review!)


	17. Chapter 17

White Rose Fox: thanks. I was kind of worried about it, actually.

Thank you to all who favourited. The YYH characters belong to their creator, the BORG belong to Gene Roddenbery, or whoever holds the rights to Star Trek. (yes, I am a Trekkie.)

* * *

I made it before Hiei. He was hanging back to watch my ass, I swear. Such a little pervert.

Kurama set his tea and book down extra carefully when I walked in. The air felt charged.

"Dude, I'm chill with your pixy dust, just so ya know. I got a few more months of memories back." I walked right past him to see what was left on the stove after the last meal cooked. I was in luck, the wok was about half full of Yusuke's special ramen supreme.

"That's good." Kurama said, then let out a very noisy breath.

I turned with two bowls of noodles. One for me, one for Hiei, of course. "You did what you had to, Foxy. At least nobody hit me." I grinned and sat across the table.

He smiled over the rim of his teacup. "Another day or two of sleep and rest should get you back to the present. You hungry or something?"

"Oh shut it, Hiei's on his way." I rolled my eyes.

Hiei chose that exact moment to walk in and sit beside me. "Thank you."

"No probs, darlin!" I gave my fire demon a broad grin. Then turned back to Kurama. "Whatcha readin? Is it any good?"

Kurama chuckled. "D'Aullaire's Book of Greek Mythology."

I nodded.

"Is it any good?" Hiei repeated my earlier question.

"Its ok." Kurama and I said at the same time.

Kurama raised his eyebrow at me.

"I read it for fun back in middle school, and again in high school. I thought it could have been written in a slightly more advanced manner, but hey, nothing's perfect." I shrugged.

Hiei looked at me like he was about to speak. But what he said was mind to mind. 'Your smiles are perfect.'

Kurama sputtered his tea. "The world is coming to an end, Hiei's being sweet."

I spotted Hiei's blush and got a little ticked. "Well, Hiei is almost always sweet to me." I stuck my tongue out at the fox. I never said I had gotten more mature.

"My point exactly." Kurama chuckled once more, then got serious. "Hiei told me you were having trouble sleeping."

I waved my hand to brush the concern away. "Its nothing too major."

Hiei didn't even look up at either of us. "Pyro, you stay awake and pace or write long after you think I'm asleep every damn night." If he had powered up, his noodles would have burst into flames.

"Its just a little insomnia, fairly common for me." I tried to keep my tone on the flippant side of things, so the boys wouldn't go into one of their overprotective hissy fits. They were already in one, didn't want to make it worse.

"Is it your dreams that keep you from sleep?" Kurama asked after a moment's pause.

Shit, my hand was gonna have to be shown. "More like someone else's memories on random." I stabbed the little bits of meat still in my bowl.

Hiei radiated alarm. Not that I hadn't already seen all of it anyway.

"Relax, lover, not yours." I rubbed his arm in an attempt at comfort. "Its that damn past self who won't accept death."

Kurama was also radiating alarm. He was doing a good job of keeping it down though. "And what of last night?"

"Oh, just my normal dreams in which everyone dies or gets..."

"Onna, please." Hiei interrupted me.

"You were peeking, don't deny it." I winked at the dragon.

Kurama sipped his tea again. "Hmm, I think containment may soon prove futile."

I made a wry face. "You will be assimilated, resistance is futile." I deadpanned like a Borg.

I didn't have to look up. I could FEEL the eye roll Kurama rewarded me with.

"So what next? I have what you all tell me is the best mental block system in the three worlds. If that fails, frankly, we're fucked." I managed to keep my voice calm at least.

"Keep it together. We're all scared enough as it is." Hiei hissed.

I shot him an apologetic look.

"We have too much emotional involvement now, so none of us would be able to, how did Koenma put it, put the bitch down." Kurama shrugged, and tried to seem nonchalant. "I believe we'd be left with running."

"No. You won't be left with that. I'll do the running. I couldn't watch that happen, not to you guys." I couldn't look up from my clasped hands in my lap. I had just started to feel comfortable here, with them.

Hiei's arms and smoky scent wound around me. "We'll find a way, we always do. I have yet to let these fools fail a mission."

Kurama snorted.

"Well, we better. I refuse to let her do you like she did Kurama, and I sure as hell won't be letting her mess with him again." I growled, then bolted before Hiei could tighten his grip. Their surprised yells followed me into the forest.

* * *

I didn't care where I was headed, nor that branches kept tearing at me. Damn Kurama for stealing my belladonna anyway. I was already listed as dead, so I really didn't have to worry about looking good for the casket.

::I will take over if you die.:: Lotus' overly sensual tones broke into my thoughts.

'What?' That was new.

::You die- fall off a cliff, poison yourself, piss off Kurama, whatever- I get free reign to fix what you broke and go do whatever the fuck I want.:: She sounded so smug.

'Fine, you wanna be stubborn about it, I can be just as stubborn. I'm takin off to somewhere you can't hurt anyone.'

I was lost, in the woods, somewhere in Japan, with a demented demon in my head and no idea how to speak the language properly. I learned most of my Japanese from Yusuke during fights, never got around to getting lessons from Kurama. My life was so full of fail.

I kept moving in a direction I hoped was away from people. I'd live in the damn woods if I had to. She shouldn't be allowed to be anywhere near people.

Hiei seemed to materialize in front of me. "Stop."

I tried to step around him. I nearly fell because of his sudden move to block my path. He held me tight in his arms to prevent my ass from having a violent meeting with the ground. "I told you to stop, onna."

"Just go back, Hiei. Let me make one last attempt at protecting as many people as I can before she totally eclipses me." I pushed against him, trying to break free.

He just held tighter. "Woman, stop fighting. I am not letting you go off on your own and get killed. I have put too much into protecting you."

"Look, Hiei, I know the bitch got out, attacks only happen when she gets out. I don't know who she hurt, or how badly she hurt them. But any hurt is unacceptable." I silently pleaded for him to just go back and say he lost me.

"You were getting ready to kill Yusuke, but you heard my voice and stopped." He cupped my cheek in his hand.

I nuzzled into his touch. "Hiei, I just... I can't..." I broke down crying.

* * *

Koenma was waiting for us when Hiei finally got me calm enough to return to the temple. "Kurama has informed me of the possibility of a situation. Since I can't have a hostile demon running lose in my Human World headquarters, I am going to have to send you back." The pacifiered god seemed almost reluctant.

I just nodded and squeezed Hiei's hand. If I opened my mouth, I would cry again, or worse, ask the annoying godlet to lock me up in Spirit World prison.

Hiei stepped forward slightly. "I will accompany her. She will still need protection, even if she is denied yours, Koenma."

The godlet chuckled. "Actually, Hiei, I was about to suggest you do just that."

We both stared at him like he'd grown a third head, never mind where the second one came from.

"You think I haven't noticed how close you two have gotten? Really, I AM a god you know." he crossed his arms and winked.

"Well, damn. When am I evicted?" I sighed.

"As soon as your things are packed. Botan's already started." Koenma gave me a look, like he wanted to say something else.

I just turned to help Botan throw me out of the temple.

"Oh, Pyro?" Koenma's voice followed me. "Just let your past life know, a soul can only wage war against its body for so long. And vice versa."

* * *

The blue haired reaper was sat before the wardrobe, folding clothes carefully and singing the only Japanese song I knew. It was a sad sounding song all about cherry blossoms called Sakura. I didn't say anything, just knelt beside her and joined in both the work and the song.

She looked at me with unspoken questions in her eyes. I just shrugged and went back to packing. Between the two of us, we finished pretty quickly.

Botan turned to me after the last zipper was zipped on the last bag and said, "I didn't know you could sing in Japanese like that."

"Only actual Japanese song I know." I grinned.

"Where did you learn it? I spent a cherry blossom festival with Kieko one year while Yusuke was away, and the festival we were at had it playing on repeat."

We started off down the hall. "I had this audio tape, for teaching kids Japanese through song. I remember Sakura, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." I laughed, because it was so completely useless.

We had almost reached the others when she turned to me with tears filling her pink eyes. "Promise me you'll be back."

I sighed. "Bo, I can't promise you that. If I manage to get the demon converted or gone, I'll come back. If not, well, I'll at least send Hiei to warn you."

"He'll never leave you, I hope you know that. So you'll be back." Botan shrugged and started off again. "I'll pop in from time to time and check on you."

"So you can be the first one to know of the impending apocalypse." I laughed at my own dark humour.

"Really, I don't see how you can joke at a time like this."

"Its how I deal, Bo. Its either laugh or cry, and I hate crying."

* * *

ok, that's it for this chapter. I was gonna close it a scene before that, but then I got all jazzed by a review from LostCause6661, so I added more. You should go thank her by reading her amazing stories and leaving reviews. Go on, I mean it.


	18. Chapter 18

Hello lovelies. Once again I remind you all that I do not own the YYH characters, I'm just borrowing them. And thank all of my readers and those who have faved and/or alerted. Ily. Please to review, for reviews are what make it worthwhile to type.

LostCause6661: I really hated writing Lotus for most of this story, but she redeems herself soon, I swear. It would kill him if things went badly (Lotus already promised to do very bad things to the firebug AND the fox) and yes they should thank you, cuz you lit a fire under my mopey arse.

Shinoslittlesister: {squeaks} thanks so much for the review! This chapter is very hard for me to type (it was really hard to write it the first time, on paper) so its taking forever.

Kagome141414: wait no more! Here's the next chapter. Thanks for the review!

Meggurra: thank you! Here's the next chapter.

I'm SOOOOOO sorry I'm taking so long! (I'm afraid you will all hate me for what I am about to do to pyro.)

* * *

There was already a portal waiting when Botan and I finally rejoined the gang. The whole of the temple's population turned out to see us off. Jin took one look at me and ducked out.

"He's so emotional sometimes." Touya gave me an apologetic shrug.

I hugged the ice master twice. "Give one of those to Jin for me, and I'll kick both your arses if you don't and he refuses."

Kuwabara was next, along with Yukina. "Don't let the shrimp keep you in your room the whole time. If he tries, call me, and I'll come take over." Kuwabara looked a little bashful.

"Take good care of my brother. He needs you more than you need him." Yukina looked to be on the verge of tears.

"No worries, Kina, remember? I will do my damnedest to keep your big bro around to glare at your lover for a long long time." I hugged her tight.

"Hey! That's my nickname for her!" Kuwabara protested.

"Shut up Kazuma. My brother's intended may call me whatever she wants." Yukina said very calmly. It kept him distracted as a single tear gem hit the ground.

I scooped it up and turned to Yusuke. "Zombie, don't beat yourself up, its not your fault."

"Yeah, right. Whatever." He scratched the back of his head and didn't look at me.

I hugged him and growled a little. "Its not your fault. It was going to happen anyway."

Hiei growled a little. I guess he still didn't like me showing any affection toward the zombie. "You ready yet?"

I stepped over to his side. "Yes, Hiei. Take me home."

* * *

We were lucky this time. Koenma made the portal open directly into my apartment, in the sitting room. I moved through the rooms, cursing at myself for letting the boys rush me through the move about nine months previous.

The sink was still stacked with dishes, but the water had long since dried, and any food remains had succumbed to the molds. Even the molds had disappeared. I still washed them in scalding hot water, with lots of soap.

"I'm not going back, no matter how much you ignore me." Hiei's voice floated over from the doorway.

"I'm not trying to ignore you, I'm trying to wash the dishes so we have something to eat off of tonight." I said, without much feeling.

He caught my hands in his, beside me before I'd finished speaking. "You've hurt yourself again. The scratches on your face haven't even clotted over yet."

I turned to face him. "Why do you even care?"

"Because I can't help it. I thought I was immune to these feelings." He put my hands under cold water.

"But why, Hiei? I do nothing but cause trouble and make you get hurt."

"Baka. You don't make me get hurt. The other demons hurt me because I make sure they don't get to you. You are mine until the day I die, and I have made it my mission to ensure you a very long life of causing me trouble."

"Gods, Hiei, you make it sound like you're in love with me and about to propose." I giggled slightly.

"Because I am. I know I can't have you in a demon mating, but would you have me in a human mating?" His eyes were full of apprehension.

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. "Of course I will firebug! Gods, you're so full of surprises."

He held a ring out to me on his palm. The band was silver, and the stones looked familiar.

"Hiei, are those..."

"Mine and my sister's hiruseki stones? Yes. She volunteered them." He smiled at me as he slid the ring onto my left ring finger.

I threw my arms around him again. "Its gorgeous. Now lets go get some groceries so that I can cook my fiancee something to eat."

"Better idea. Lets go to the store after we go out for dinner."

I pecked his cheek and started for my bedroom. "Let me just go grab my cash stash, then we can go."

* * *

I went back to being a fortune teller. Hiei became my partner in the business. We worked from the apartment, so we wouldn't have to file paperwork for renting a space.

I was up before Hiei every day. We somehow managed to fall asleep together every night, which was nice. But those damn memories kept showing up right around dawn.

After about a month and a half of playing daytime gypsy, Hiei had the brilliant idea of adding a kind of spirit medium to his list of occult services. He would use his jagon to find dead relatives that clients would request to contact or whatever, and feed them lines from their memories. The little demon could start a reality show.

I generally assisted him for the seances. Mostly because I was afraid to be alone with the demon in my head. As the months added up, so did the frequency of her memories getting into my head.

A month of twice-nightly seances passed without incident. The night of our last séance, I got mad at him. I was sure he'd overstepped his role.

"Seriously, Hiei, did you have to tell her THAT?" I hissed as soon as the door shut behind the last client.

"Yes, I did. She wanted the truth, and I gave it to her." He spoke softly, so the client wouldn't hear. I half wondered why he didn't just do the telepathy thing.

"But you told her that her recently deceased husband is rotting in Hell! Not cool." I hissed, stalking away from the door to the kitchen. I needed tea, or something.

"She hated him." He grabbed my arm. "He was to her like Eoghan was to you. She wanted to know that she was finally getting justice from some power, since ningen courts failed her."

We stared at each other for several moments. I looked away first. "Fine. I think I'm going to take a walk. I need to cool off and sort out my head." I moved to grab my cloak from the hook by the door.

"If I am banned from coming with you, please don't take long, it is very late." He didn't move to follow me, except with his eyes.

I flashed him a little smile. "Of course dearest. Humans can be just as dangerous as demons." I carefully shut the door instead of the slam I had been planning. For all of his bluster, my oni-san still hated it when we fought.

* * *

I went a couple of blocks, then turned around. My timing was one block off, because I soon became aware of the footsteps and aggression of someone following me. I continued my even pace while stretching my demon senses like Hiei had taught me. Three males, all human.

'Shit. I really don't have the time or patience for this shit now.' I growled to myself.

::I do, let me play with them.:: Lotus purred.

'Bitch, stay in your box. No killing humans.' I rolled my eyes.

The footsteps got closer. I was half a block from home. I leaned down to mess with a shoelace that had chosen just then to come undone.

I was grabbed and held with my back against one of them by a big forearm around my throat.

'Hiei, honey, just so you know, I'm being attacked by some humans. Lotus may try something, but I can handle it.'

The arm at my throat tightened a bit. "Hey there little fortune teller, we want you to predict our future." The owner of the arm said in my ear.

"Ok, I predict that you're gonna get hurt." I felt my shields slip. 'Shitshitshit, she's gonna get out.' I hoped Hiei heard me.

"I think I want my money back." The jerk behind me laughed.

"I think we'll just take it out of your sweet ass." A skinny dirty looking boy said, grinning like a jack o'lantern.

'Oh gods, she's half out...' "Actually, you're not going to touch me at all." my voice, yet not my voice growled. "And your friend here is going to lose the use of his arm for daring to choke me."

"You little bitch..." The other two started to close in.

I flipped the one holding me over my head by the arm around my throat. He landed on his friends, but I had yet to let go of his arm, yay demon strength. To make good on my prediction, I kicked his elbow to bend the wrong way.

Hiei was suddenly at my side, prying the boy's arm out of my hand. "That's enough, onna. You have proven to them how unwise it is to attack a gypsy at night."

"He touched me. Choked me." I growled, still glaring at the heap at my feet. 'He made her come out.'

"And you ruined his arm, he'll never use it again." Hiei chuckled. "Prediction correct as usual."

'Koenma would be pissed if I killed them.'

'To say the least. Now lets go, the ningen healers have been called, along with the police. Unless you want to spend the night in a cell.'

I let him pick me up and flit me to the apartment.

* * *

Hiei locked the door and sat beside me on the couch. I based that on the clicks I heard, and the feeling of the couch dip beside me, because I had my eyes tightly shut again.

"Onna, look at me." His demand came in a soft voice, tinged with concern.

I looked over at him, trying to mask my fear. "I know, that was too close."

"You're getting better. Her eyes and voice came out, but you showed restraint. She could have used any number of powers to take them out completely, but only broke the baka like she said she would." He gave me a half smile.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "At least our séance and tarot schedules are clear for the next couple of weeks."

"That vacation is out of the question."

"Aww, please? Just one day at the beach?"

"Too dangerous for the innocents." He chuckled at my pout.

"Fine. But it would be so nice to have just one day to cut lose and get away." I flopped back to slouch in my seat.

He slid his arm around me and brought me in for a cuddle. "We can still cut lose, we just can't get away until after the next attack."

"Gods I hate being me sometimes." I sighed and nuzzled his shoulder to get comfy.

"I still like you exactly the way you are." He kissed the top of my head.

I giggled. "You're biased."

"Perhaps. That was a pretty ruthless move, where did you learn it?"

"Touya said I might need it in a 'dark ningenkai alley' one day when the mission was over and you all went back to Demon World. He wanted to give me some protection against the brutality of my own species." I finished speaking very softly. It made me sad to think my oni-san might leave me.

"I will not leave you when the mission is over." He pulled me close until our bodies were almost flush against one another.

"You'll stay till I'm old and can't keep up." I said sadly.

He held me tighter. "I will not leave you until I am forced to leave your body in the ground. Who told you that lie about your age meaning anything?"

I shrugged.

He looked me straight in the eye. Well, as straight as one could look someone in the eye from the side. "I chose to fight for you and kill for you, to keep you safe. I would not do that if you were not worth the effort of staying here for several more decades."

"It was an e-mail. I only gave my e-mail address to Yukina, Botan and Keiko, so I don't know how this person got it."

"Will you show it to me? I know all the writing styles of the demon's who trained you."

I pulled my computer out from under the couch. I tended to hide it there during seances.

* * *

I'm gonna stop here. You'll find out who the meanie-head duo is next time.

Please keep reviewing! It gets you more story!


	19. Chapter 19

Hello again my darklings! Thanks sooooo very very much for all the new alerts and favourites and welcome new readers. Welcome back old readers.

LostCause6661: hmmm, mate of the year... I like that! I may have to steal that one...

* * *

The computer took a few minutes to load. "You know, I could be all paranoid and tell you to look away when I sign in..." I grinned at the screen.

Hiei backed up slightly. Just enough so that he couldn't see the keyboard, and still be touching me.

"I didn't mean that. I want you to learn how to use one of these if you're gonna stick around." I sighed. Sometimes joking with him was like talking to a wall.

"I know how to use one. I am giving you your privacy."

"So formal. Thought we were past that?"

"Trying to keep my mind on the task at hand, not the way you looked during the fight." He let out a shaky breath.

I got a shiver of arousal off him. "Ooookayyy... anyhow." I scrolled through the new messages to find the one I wanted. "Kitsune1000... damn him."

"Did you not give the fox a way to contact you?"

"No. and I swear to all the gods, if he knicked the address off your sister, I will kick his scrawny foxy arse. Hmmm, its directed to both of us."

Hiei leaned closer, so that we could read it together.

{pyro and hiei, I hope this finds you well, and not gone all evil rule the worlds. koenma has given me free run of his library to research other cases like yours, to find a solution. and before you call and swear to kick my foxy arse to spirit world and back, botan asked me to e-mail, because she just found out that ferry girls can't use computers, their powers make the poor machine go into meltdown. I did NOT steal the slip of paper with your e-addy on it. I will keep you informed on my progress, kurama.}

Pyro snickered. "The fox writes like a brainiac fourteen year old."

"He writes letters to me in Alaric like that as well." Hiei said, sitting back again.

"Alaric... that's where your boss is, yeah?" I purposefully left out -and lover- because I didn't really want to go there tonight.

He apparently heard the unspoken part, because he said, "Yes, to both." He shifted in his seat, like he wanted to run far far away.

"Hmm." I kept my eyes glued to the screen. Seems like we were going there after all.

"She... she was my boss. Is still my boss, and lord of Alaric, I'm her heir. She hasn't been my lover since, well, for a long time now." He looked as defeated as the emotions rolling off him.

"Since you said something and she got pissed in a royal kind of way."

"Because I told her the truth one night while we were discussing mating. She would have to have children, as we'd need an heir." Defeated turned into indignant.

"She's pissed cause she's barren and you didn't notice." I flicked a glance his way to see if I was right.

He got his wide-eyed look of shock. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "You mean I'm right? Hell, with that much evidence, even the zombie and Kazu could have known."

He turned my face toward him with a gentle, but shaky, hand on my chin. "How do you figure there was any evidence?" The look in his eyes told me he was mentally kicking himself for being more idiotic than the idiots.

"Hiei, honey, I know how you are. If I didn't need to be so careful about the bitch in my head, you would be acting on all that pent-up arousal you try to hide from me every night. She was your intended, and you nailed her to the mattress every night. If she was gonna give you little mini fire demons, it would have happened already." Oni-san had a LOT to learn about the birds and the bees still.

"She never... Oh that bitch of a lord." He slapped himself in the forehead, really close to his third eye.

I winced. "And I'm not, just so ya know. Kurama had been slipping a little extra something in my tea since the day we started sharing a roof."

That got a quick burst of anger out of the demon at my side. "He did WHAT?"

I giggled. "Chillax lover. I caught him a few months in and asked him what it was."

"And..?" His prompt for information was clipped, like he was resisting the urge to go and beat the crap out of a certain kitsune.

"It wasn't poison." I grinned at my angry oni-san. "It was a plant that acts as a demon contraceptive. He discovered it when he was with Lotus. He gave me some seeds the day I caught him, and taught me how to grow them, just in case you actually let someone else battle one day and he couldn't grow it for me."

Hiei calmed almost instantly. "So, assuming you haven't had any human lovers lately..."

I felt like I'd been slapped. "You jerk, that hurt. You, of all people, should know me WAY better than that." My voice came out as a whisper. I crossed the room to sit in the recliner with my laptop.

His sigh rang through the shocked silence I created.

"You, oni-san, have been in my mind more completely than anyone ever has, so you should know that, not only would I NEVER have another lover while I'm with you, its also not a good idea to even joke about it." I hit the keys on my computer harder than necessary in my annoyance, but I found what I'd originally gone into my e-mail to find.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking." He looked up at me. "With all the shocks tonight, I can't think straight." His eyes begged me to forgive him.

"Oh honey, you know I can't stay mad at you! Swear you'll never suggest that I've been unfaithful to you again and you're forgiven." I grinned at him.

His relief washed over the room. He crossed to stand directly in front of me and looked directly into my eyes. "I swear."

"I found the e-mail."

He sat on the arm of the recliner and read the contents. "That stupid oaf, he left his e-mail open where Shishi and Touya could get to it. This letter is mostly Shishi, especially the parts about how a lord of the makai would never pledge himself to a weak human."

"Fuckers. Go figger, he hates me anyway." I set the computer on the side table. "I'm gonna head to bed, see if I can't get a little rest before HER memories start up again."

"I will follow you in a few minutes, after I handle the replies to the lies you were told." He had an evil smirk on his face that told me it was best not to ask what he was planning to write.

* * *

I know, is short. But I hurted myself this week, and the advil I took wore off, so I can't type anymore. (wrist injury.)

love to all my readers! And I am sooooooooooo sorry I didn't post more sooner. I got lost in Ouran High School Host Club silliness. (I love the series, and highly recommend it)

REVIEW PLEASE! It will help me feel better enough to type again this week. (lemons next chapter!)


	20. Chapter 20

So, life has happened. Things have fallen so that this update is very very late. But, I has a gift of lemons, so I can has forgiveness?

I do not own the boys of the show. I have just borrowed them to play with for a while, I'll put them back when I've done with them. HOWEVER I do own all OC's, and will keep them after the story's done.

DarkRoseDragon: you are forgiven my dear. And yes, nekozawa-sempai is frikken awesome. I kind of prefer kyoya myself. (writing a fic for ouran now too.)

Red Rose Cat: thank you so much sweetie! Welcome to the fic, I'm so pleased you like it!

LostCause6661: look, see an update! Yeah, I figger guys are guys no matter where they come from, and how much they deserve the title mate of the year. But, in a chapter or two, our lovely pyro is gonna overreact and make him look downright sensitive again. Cuz that's the way we roll. Lol.

Thanks for all the faves that have come in! Ily!

* * *

The only sound that announced his presence was a cough at the door.

I spun to face him. "Oh! Hey, um..." the point of my bokken wavered and aimed at the floor.

He chuckled. "Keeping your mind occupied?" His smirk grew as he approached me.

"Something like that." I set the sword back on the rack carefully.

"Occupied by practicing in your underwear?"

I blushed a little. In my defense, it was an old-lady-style bra and boyshorts. "Why not? It is my room too." I decided to play angry and crossed my arms.

He gently un-crossed my arms and wrapped them around his neck. His arms circled my waist and pulled me close. "I didn't say you couldn't."

I shivered from his breath on my neck. "How long were you watching?"

"Long enough to know that I am very lucky you're on my side, and to be very relieved that we're not at the temple right now." He nibbled along my neck and shoulder as he spoke.

"Mmhmm... why's that?" I reached up to play with his gravity defying hair.

"Because then that damn fox would see you." He moved to nibble on the other side.

"How? I'd be in our room, and there was only one window set pretty high up."

He moved to look me directly in the eye. "There were no curtains. And I know how easy it would be for him to make it so that he could peek in."

I blinked a few times rapidly, in disbelief. "Are you saying he..."

"Spied on us? Yes, many times. He wrote to me and said that your changing methods are intriguing, and how did I like the skimpy robe." Hiei smirked at the mention of that damn robe. I still had it in the closet somewhere.

I growled a little. "That damn kit. I swear, he was so much more mature as a full demon."

He pushed me back so that he could see both eyes at once. "Ok, not Lotus." His relief washed through the room.

"No, she was remembering her time with him this morning. He never had the unfortunate case of never growing up that most human males seem to have." I chuckled a little to myself.

"That explains a lot of the detective's actions." Hiei started chuckling as well.

"But that won't stop me from plotting some kind of revenge." I gave my lover an evil smirk.

"You are very attractive when you're plotting." He pulled me close again and captured my lips with his.

I grinned as he lifted me without breaking the kiss and set me ass first on the foot of the bed.

I pulled back to give him a questioning look.

'I am not doing this on the floor again. You had splinters.' He smirked.

"Ah, rugburn ain't so bad." I giggled in reply.

He moved to stand between my legs. His arms wound their way around to my back and up to the clasp on my bra. He fumbled with it for a few moments before letting out a frustrated growl. "Damn ningen clothes."

I laughed and reached back. I undid the catch easily.

He slid the straps down my arms and off. He glared at it like it had just gone and slapped his sister with a stinky fish in the middle of the market.

"Hiei, if I didn't wear one, then every male nearby would think that I'm aroused for them, not you." I said gently, but seriously.

"Hn." My bra disappeared to somewhere behind him, followed quickly by his shirt and pants.

I grinned. "Mmmm, very nice." I trailed my fingertips down his chest.

He growled from deep in the back of his throat.

I slid back to lean against the headboard. "C'mon oni-san, lets make the walls shake." I gave him my best seductive smile and crooked a finger at him.

He was at my side in the space between blinks. 'This won't be as fast as last time.' He licked up the side of my neck to nibble on my ear.

'Do I have to be quiet again?' I arched into his hand which was caressing my breasts.

"No. I want to really hear you." He whispered into my ear.

I let out a strangled moan.

He started to nibble a path down my neck. He paused at the space where neck meets shoulder and nipped a few times.

::He wants to mark you.:: Lotus did always have shitty timing.

I growled a little.

Without pausing what his mouth was doing, Hiei slid his mental barriers next to mine. 'Bitch, stay put.'

I giggled at his dominant growl. The giggle turned into a needy moan as he sucked a nipple into his mouth and bit on it slightly. Both breasts got nipped and suckled before he trailed lazy circles down my stomach. His fingers danced along the hem of my undies.

"You are beautiful." He said into my skin. One tug and my undies were in pieces.

"H-hiei..." I moaned.

'Relax. I am going to take my time and treat you the way a woman of your beauty should be treated.' I could feel his smirk on my hip.

My hands fisted in the sheets. My eyes slid closed and I moaned under the delicate torture of the fire demon's mouth.

He licked and nibbled along the insides of both my legs before running his tongue along my slit.

I moaned louder and arched into his mouth. His tongue was so hot, and seemed to know EXACTLY where to be.

'Gods, I should have tasted you sooner.' Even his mental voice was breathy with barely controlled desire.

I moaned. "Gods, Hiei..." I could feel the free fall getting closer. His thumb pressed the most sensitive button as his tongue plunged inside me, and I screamed out in pleasure.

I pulled at his shoulders, so that I could capture his lips. 'Gods, Hiei, I need...' My hands shoved at his boxers.

He kicked them off and away. 'You can taste me another time, I can wait no longer to be inside you.' His first thrust had him fully sheathed inside me.

I arched up, my mouth open in a silent scream. My legs wrapped around his wait to draw him in closer.

'Tell me how much you like it, onna.' His hips moved fast as he drilled into me hard.

"Hiei... gods... you feel so good."

He gripped my hips, and I knew I'd have bruises by morning. He used that grip to pull me in to meet his thrusts.

"Hiei, close." I moaned and scratched my nails down his back. I could feel our minds twining around each other again.

"Fall with me." He growled into my ear. Then his lips found mine and latched on firmly. My fingers reflexively gripped his shoulders tight as he pushed me over the edge with him. Our minds wrapped tightly as we fell into bliss.

His head dropped to rest in the hollow of my shoulder as he panted and came back to reality.

I stroked his back, enjoying the connection before it went away."Why won't you go near my neck when we do that?"

He dropped to lay beside me. "Because I want to mate you, and the urge to mark you is strongest then."

"We would be unfreakingstoppable as mates, but I won't condemn you to my lifespan." I traced lazy circles on his stomach with my fingers.

You would live longer, but we still would not have a full demon lifespan." He seemed to have a sudden thought and turned to look at me closely. "How do you know about demon mating?"

"I talked to Yukina and Keiko while you were off on a home reading last week. They needed a sympathetic ear to gripe about the problems with human-demon matings." I blushed a little.

"You discussed mating? Without me?" I couldn't tell if he was shocked we discussed it at all, or that I didn't ask him at all.

"Yeah, but we should go shower before we get too comfy here."

"We will discuss this later."

* * *

there you go lovelies. A lovely lemon to make up for the long space between chapters. I'm hoping to get a bit more done up before I leave to my boyfriend's flat, but I make no promises. To get net access there, we have to hike about a mile to a fast food place. Thanks again for reviews and alerts and faves. You keep me typing. (I'm a review whore, sorry. Please write me some feedback!)


	21. Chapter 21

Hello from the train darklings! I'm trying to get some chapters typed and give y'all a massive update, but I don't know how well that will turn out. As the poet says, 'the best laid plans of mice and men, have ever gone awry...'

thank you to my two reviewers who have been replied to personally. Thank you to those of you who reviewed the last chapter after I turned off the comp on tuesday night. I will reply to you later, personally. LostCause6661, my dear, thank you as always for your persistence in kicking my lazy arse into gear.

On to the show...

* * *

The next morning saw me awake earlier than normal and pacing the living room. 'Look, Lotus, could you maybe stop with the memories? I get it, you were my past life and a brutal whore.'

::I really can't control it. I don't want to be that person anymore:: My mind was filled with the image of a gorgeous woman with purple hair, her head bowed and hands clasped before her in a position of contrite submission.

'That's a huge change.'

::Look, Pyro, you've fought me ever since you became aware of me when you were a teenager. You're the only incarnation who ever has fought. I respect you for that.::

'So, you should not try to kill my friends then, yeah? I mean, that is kind of the reason I got saddled with the detective in the first place.'

::Sorry about that. When you get angry, so do I. And I don't know how to not kill as a retaliation. Next time I'm out, that's it. We'll really be one person then.::

'Am I really supposed to believe that? I mean, you did want to kill Kurama, and Hiei...'

The woman in my head smiled at me. ::Cherie, it doesn't matter if you believe me or not. I told you, I like you, and your determination. All of the emotions around you run true.::

She was starting to piss me off again. 'So?'

::So, if Hiei gets hurt in any way in your next fight, you won't be able to stop me. He loves you deeply, and you deserve to have that in your life.::

'You're starting to love him too, aren't you?' I grinned at her.

She laughed and shook her head. ::Starting? No. Remember, I'm you. I fell in love when you did. That helped to change me so much.::

I giggled. 'I really hate to say this, but I hope that next fight happens fast.'

She giggled as well. ::Sooner than you think, there are demons in the park around the corner.::

"She felt them too, huh?" Hiei asked from the bedroom doorway.

I jumped in shock. "Hiei! Sorry, did I wake you?"

He smirked at me. "No, Pyro, I woke because I felt unfamiliar demons in the area. You wore me out too much to wake me from just a nice chat with your past self." He walked toward the kitchen.

I followed him. "Do you want to know what she wanted?"

"If you feel comfortable telling me." He set the kettle on for tea.

I pulled out the mugs and tea strainer. "She said she's ready to be good and stop fighting me. Next fight, if she gets out, she's gonna put us back together like she was supposed to when I was born."

"That would be why you had so much control last night with those boys." He pulled the better tea out of the closet. The one he only made when he had a big client he was afraid to tell me about.

I grew a sprig of the plant Kurama had given me and added it to my mug. "She also said that if you get hurt at all, there's nothing in the three worlds that will stop her from getting out. And frankly, I'd let her, even if she wasn't ready to be good."

His hands stilled on the sugar jar. "Why? I'm not that nice to you half the time."

"So? How many people can I say are really looking out for my safety when they tell me what to do?"

"You could still do better." He looked down and away.

"With whom? Kurama? One of the damned boys at the market who love to flirt with me?" I put my hands on his shoulders and made him face me. "I love YOU. Not them."

His eyes grew wide as they searched mine for malice of intent.

"Yes, Hiei, I love you. My oni-san, my champion. I'd mate you right now, but I don't want to cut your life short. I wouldn't do that to you"

He pulled me close and inhaled deeply at the crook of my neck. "Thank you, onna."

The kettle whistled. I reached over and turned off the flame under it.

He slowly let go and returned to putting sugar in his cup. He took his tea with half a dozen spoons of sugar. His silence hid the words I knew he wanted to say.

"Its ok if you don't say it back. I'm ok with that." I said softly, pouring water over the dry leaves in the teapot.

"What do you want to do about the demons in the park?" He pulled out frozen pancakes and put several in the microwave to heat.

"Well, we can't very well let them stay there. Children play at that park, and you know how most demons are about human kids." I shrugged and put out the plates and utensils. I'm sorry, there are just some things that can't be eaten with chopsticks, and pancakes are one of em.

"I could just go take care of it." He popped his knuckles in irritation at the comment I made.

"I want to be there. I need the practice anyways."

"The detective will want a rematch the next time you meet." The microwave dinged. He divided the pancakes between us equally, then sat down.

"Exactly. I will need to prove I can still put him down any time I want."

We ate quickly in silence. There was a battle, and we wanted it over with as fast as possible.

* * *

The battle raged through the park. Luckily most kids were either in school or still asleep, and there was a large wooded state park right next to it. I was able to keep the assassins distracted with vines and roots for a long time.

Hiei slashed at the biggest one. It moved at the last moment. Hiei's eyes went wide when he stumbled back, clutching his chest.

I turned. A crimson stain bloomed on the blue tee I'd gotten him the previous week. My breath came in short gasps when he began to wobble. I ran to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Save yourself, onna." He pushed at me. It lacked his usual strength.

"Not a chance in hell, oni-san." My voice was dual toned, and I could feel her take over. "Nobody hurts my man and gets away with it."

"Ah, finally. Lotus comes out to play." The big demon laughed.

I propped Hiei against a tree, then turned to face them. "Play? I'm dead serious. You're not getting away." I started toward them. 'Look what I can do, oni-san.'

Their laughter grew as I walked into the center of their little formation and stopped.

I called the wind like I learned from Jin and made a tornado, which lifted me about a foot into the air. Then I called the black flames that Hiei controlled. The flames rode the wind, making my little pedestal a black flaming tornado.

The demons stopped laughing when they felt the sheer amount of power I controlled.

"I'm done running." I set the tornado to consume them all.

When the last had been burnt, I rushed back to Hiei's side. "Don't be alarmed, little dragon, she's gonna be in pain for a while." Lotus' voice came out of my mouth. I lost track of everything when the pain hit.

* * *

When I came back to reality I had been stripped and put to bed in the apartment. A loose t-shirt had been put on me, and I could have sworn to any god that it had been longer the last time I wore it. "Hiei?" I hoped to Hades he was alright.

A familiar black blur sped through the door to my side. "You're awake. But, your eyes..."

"Never mind me, are you still hurt, Hiei?" I waved my hand and looked into his red eyes to make sure he wouldn't try to lie.

"I had healed by the time you put down those rabid dogs. You're the one who passes out when you get injured." He chuckled and climbed into bed beside me.

I nuzzled the crook of his neck. "Thank you for taking care of me."

He nuzzled mine. "I couldn't just leave you in the woods like that."

"If its any consolation, its the last time. She's gone, and left all her demon slut memories behind."

"You have to make a report to Koenma. I did mine yesterday."

As if to answer his comment, a pop sounded throughout the room. The godlet in question hovered in front of us in toddler form. "I already know at least part of what you're going to tell me."

"Why have her eyes changed?" Hiei demanded, nearly growling at the deity.

"Because she's become a demon." The godlet replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The pocket of consciousness lotus created in your soul was for this very reason."

"I don't feel like I've become a demon. I feel damn near the same as before, but without the massive energy drain from containing the bitch." I said, bewildered by this new twist. "I can't be a goddamn demon!"

"It is entirely possible that you are a 'damn demon.' Just ask Yusuke, or Kurama." Koenma glared at me, like he was mad that I dared question his deified self.

"So, what, are you gonna have me 'put down' like you said before?" I used air quotes and let a bit of my annoyance get out. I kept my anger to my self.

Hiei moved so that his body mostly blocked mine. The growl he let out was just shy of feral.

Koenma backed up slightly. "Ah, no. Our best case scenario has come to pass. Your soul is no longer fractured, and you're not bent on controlling every thing and one in the worlds. I'm sure that even if that weren't the case, I'd lose a lot more than just the battle for your loyalties." The godlet pulled at his collar and gulped loudly.

Hiei slowly relaxed and stopped growling.

I blinked in surprise. "Now what then?"

"Now you can go back to the temple, if you wish." Koenma seemed full of pleased with himself.

I looked at Hiei. "All our faked papers are Japanese anyway." I shrugged. I refused to grin.

"The portal will be ready whenever you are." Koenma had lost a little of his smugness. He walked out through another portal.

Hiei was off throwing our clothes into duffel bags faster than I could blink.

I laughed and threw on a pair of shorts before moving to pack another room.

* * *

I was glad for the decision to put on shorts. Yusuke was sitting in the living room. Everything in here had been packed. They must have already known Koenma's decision about me before I woke up.

He waved at me. "Yo, witchy. Nice hair."

I stopped in my tracks. "Wait, what?" I took off for the hall mirror. "Ho-ly Hades." I had blue and purple hair and eyes. The blue matched my human eye colour, and the purple matched Lotus' hair and eyes exactly. Two fuzzy, black cat ears poked out of my hair. Living with cats really did rub off on me. "Oh dear gods, I'm a cat!"

Yusuke sauntered over and leaned on the wall. "When Hiei called us up after the fight, you were the cutest little black tabby, except for all the yowling you were doing."

"Really? Damn, that was totally unexpected." I grinned over at the zombie, whom I was now able to look in the eye without looking up at all.

"Oh, and don't worry. Hiei and I did all the dishes, packed and sent everything else on ahead to Grandma's. Your room wasn't packed cause no one could go in there without being in a hell of a lot of pain." He waved and walked off into a portal I hadn't noticed in my doorway.

"Clothes are ready." Hiei dropped the bags he was carrying and looked around. "Damn lazy ass..."

I picked up a bag and slipped my arm in his. "I'm no weakling, darling. Lets get back, shall we?"

He hefted the remaining bag and we walked through.

* * *

We were met by one of Botan's patented glomps. She tried to hug Hiei too, but he moved. "Pyro! Your hair is so pretty! And your little kitty ears are so cute!" the blue haired reaper squealed.

I tugged on my left ear. "Bo, seriously? They are super sensitive now." My tail swished in annoyance. 'Wait, tail?'

Hiei chuckled beside me. "Yes, onna, you have a tail. It matches your ears."

"Nice." I grinned. Then I saw all of the others waiting by the temple. "Holy Hades, the gang's all here!"

"You let her out. Hiei refuses to tell us why." Kurama sounded almost accusing.

"Well, Foxy, she and I came to a little agreement. She didn't want to be Lotus the brutal whore-bitch anymore, and I would use every power I could access if my favourite dragon got hurt in a battle. She told me that all of the true emotions in and around me made her want to go good." I had to pause, the thought of telling the battle was tough.

Hiei silently guided us both over to sit on the raised porch.

"There were seven demons in the play park near the apartment." I took a deep breath. "Hiei was wounded. It felt like the world crashed. I would have let her out either way at that point."

Hiei spoke up. "When the demoness got out, Pyro was still very much in control of the situation, and herself. She made the mortal flame attack ride on a tornado and roasted them all." He sounded proud of me.

"So who are you now?" Leave it to Kuwabara to ask the silly questions.

I made a grand sweeping bow. "Pyro Feochadan, witch extraordinaire and baby cat demon."

Yusuke started to laugh. "Baby my ass. You've got one hell of an energy signature."

Yukina nodded her agreement. "Mid-level A at the very least."

* * *

There you go, lovelies, another chapter. Worth the wait? She's not done fighting for her man, and there's a funeral in the future. Not telling who's it is though. You'll have to read and find out. Read and review. I will be back to replying to reviews in chapter next week.


	22. Chapter 22

Typing a chapter on the train on the way home. :( don't wanna go, but I gotta. Anyhow, don't own the YYH characters, I'm just borrowing them. Pyro and the contingent of original characters are mine tyvm. Thank you thank you thank you to all the reviewers, alerts, and faves. Arigato! (b/f and I have been watching subbed anime this week. I recommend Rosario and Dual... er, Dual's not subbed, its dubbed, as in, they speak english. Mammoru isn't bad either.)

wolvesrain17: thank you!

rainbowdragongirl101: thank you thank you thank you. Welcome to the story sweetheart, but please, playing with hiei's cat demon girlfriend's ears is a big bad no-no. (-hiei glares and starts to draw his katana- onna, if you value your hand, you will back off.) pyro says thanks about the hair.-pyro goes to drag her koibito to where he can't harm a reviewer.-

LostCause6661: I know you are there to kick my arse. Just a few more chapters, then a sequel. Yes, a funeral, I can't give away details. And I can't answer your question, dollface, that would give away a plot point! Yes, evil cliffies are fun sometimes. SOMETIMES. -hint hint- oh, I would have reviewed your last update sooner, but my phone hates me, and only let me read half the chapter. :(

reviews are love my darklings. Please to drop me a line plzkthx.

* * *

The girls decided it was time for a females-only reunion on the other side of the temple. I followed where they dragged me, an amused smile on my face at their antics.

"You have to spill, like, now. I heard Hiei tell Kurama that you said you love him." Keiko said when we'd gone about a third of the way down the insanity staircase that led to the temple proper.

I nodded and smirked. "I told him the morning of the fight. Hiei was trying to get me to leave him, again."

Yukina's twittering giggle broke through the stunned silence. "My brother has some strange views of the world."

I giggled along with her. "Yup, its part of why I love that little bastard." I poked the ice apparition's side. "You ever tell Kuwabara?"

"Two days ago. He was so happy, he cried." Yukina got a faraway look, like she was remembering.

Keiko sighed. "Yusuke is just hopeless. And we're married!"

I hugged the brunette. "Don't you doubt him, that idiot loves you. He'd destroy the River Styx to bring back your soul from Koenma's."

"It would still be nice to hear it." she muttered.

"I told my oni-san he doesn't have to tell me." I giggled a little at the memory of the fire demon's face when I said that.

"I heard about that too." Yukina and Keiko gave me odd looks.

I grinned broadly. "I expect him to tell me in the next few days."

Botan suddenly had a lightbulb-in-the-head-switched-on look. "By telling him he doesn't have to tell you, you took the pressure off him to reply."

I nodded at the blue-haired reaper. "Bingo, Bo." I snapped my fingers. "Oh! I had so much going on, I forgot to e-mail you! I got jumped the night before the fight."

"Jumped? Like, mugged?" Botan asked.

"Are you ok? Did Hiei kill anyone?" Keiko asked.

I shook my head. "It was three human boys. I was out by myself, and they grabbed me. I told the one that I'd make it so he couldn't use his arm again if he didn't let me go. Lotus got halfway out, and I flipped the guy over my head and bent his elbow the wrong way." I demonstrated on the air. "She stopped and went back as soon as Hiei spoke to me, so that's part of how we knew she was safe."

The other girls cringed. "I don't think even my powers could get that kind of break to heal properly." Yukina said, a proud grin on her face.

"I did give fair warning." I shrugged, then I grinned at them. "Hiei saw the whole fight, and said it was sexy as hell to watch."

"He's such a freak." Keiko giggled.

"Speaking of, he's asking for me." I bolted toward where the boys were.

* * *

I barreled into Kurama, knocking the fox on his ass. I wasn't used to demon speed yet. At least, that's what I will always swear was the reason.

Hiei, as always, knew better, but didn't directly call me out for it. "Stop fooling around, onna." He looked like he was about to laugh.

"You," I poked the fire demon's chest. "are no fun."

He grew very serious. "A portal opened, and it is not Koenma."

Kurama chuckled as he dusted himself off. "Yusuke and Kuwabara have gone to look after the other women.

"Such a worry wart!" I threw my arms around Hiei's neck.

"I do not trust the detective when his woman is in danger. My sister and Botan are quite capable of their own protection." Hiei shrugged.

I shoved the fire demon playfully. "I do believe it was me who had to protect your surly ass last time."

Hiei smirked at me. "I called you over here, didn't I?"

I snickered as Kurama tried to hide his grin behind his hand. He failed.

Yusuke rejoined us. "The girls kicked me out, said I'd be of more use out here. They also expressly forbid Kuwabara from fighting."

Hiei crossed his arms and nodded.

"Hiei! There had better be a good reason I have to come to this disgusting place. You said you'd be back by now!" A rough, feminine voice called.

The voice seemed to set my fire demon's nerves on edge. He fairly bristled in anger. "I said I'd be back when I was ready." He shifted his stance just enough so that I was mostly behind him.

A form came into view. The figure was all female, but the gait was mannish and uneven. As she got closer, the reason became clear. She was badly disfigured, and the limbs on her right side had been replaced by a mechanical set. She looked kind of like Seven of Nine before she was fully un-borged. "You've never gone off like this for so long. I was worried."

"I'm a big boy now, Mukuro, I can take care of myself. Besides, you were the one who told me to get the fuck out of your fortress and never return." Hiei snapped. The anger between the two was thick enough to cut with a butter knife.

"We still have things to discuss." She glared like it would get her somewhere with him. It didn't.

"You ended the discussion by telling me I was a heartless bastard and throwing me out. And that was a full six months before I was approached with this assignment." Hiei's voice was dead even, but that didn't keep me from knowing that inside, he was conflicted.

"You were being unreasonable."

"I was being completely reasonable!"

"So, what? You were so dead set on having an heir of your own to raise, you decided to sire one on that little weakling? Oh yes, I can see her behind you." Mukuro leaned slightly to fix her glare on me.

I almost flared my power, just to scare her a little. Hiei turned and gave me a hard look. 'My fight.' So I settled for returning her glare with my most evil glare.

"You leave my onna out of this. Had she remained human, I would have stayed until her death and come back to the fortress." Hiei growled like he did every time I was threatened.

But I didn't notice. I was busy feeling like I'd been slapped with a day-old fish. All his words about not leaving, and he was planning a return. I started running. If that was how it was, I didn't want to be there for the rest of their fight.

* * *

'Good gods, how could I have been that stupid? Of course I'm not more than a freaking temporary fling. Of course he fully intended to leave my human ass and go back to that bitch. Stupid stupid stupid.' I railed at myself as I fled.

I ran till I reached the end of a cliff. I could hear the waves crashing at the base. The sun was setting behind me, but I chose to sit on the edge and watch the dark of night creep up the sky.

'The cliff is not stable.'

Damn bastard oni. 'Where I come from, going over a cliff into the ocean is considered a sport. Humans do it every day and survive.'

'I want to talk to you before you go get reckless. Clarify something.'

I looked over my shoulder. He leaned against a tree about 20 yards away. I looked back at the darkening sky. 'What is there to discuss? You saw me as temporary and had a back up plan.'

'I only saw your body as temporary. The way I feel, that will never fade. I would have to return to Mukuro eventually, I am her heir, even though she hates me. I was to mate her, because, well, she felt it looked weak to keep an heir, but not have that strong demon as a mate.'

I stood carefully and dusted off my butt as I walked toward where he stood. I stopped right in front of him. "What about your plans to have little mini fire demons, and whatever the hell she is, with her?"

He looked me straight in the eye. "As a mated pair, I could no longer be her heir. We would need an heir, and obviously, only a child I had sired would be strong enough to take the role. She threw me out, told me never return."

"Like calling off the wedding, but refusing to end the engagement?" I asked, searching him for any signs of falsehood.

"Something like that. I never intended for this to happen." He looked away. He shouldn't have bothered, I could feel the sad remorse.

"She's going to challenge me." I told him in a soft voice.

"I never wanted the two of you to fight. When Koenma told me you were a demon, I almost forgot I hate him and nearly hugged the bastard."

"Ok, let me sum this up, you would have only gone back to her if I was dead, and now that I'm a demon, that unhappy instance is potentially a very long way off, right?" I backed up half a step to create some distance, his emotions were boiling more than they had the entire time I'd known him.

"What I'm trying to tell you is that, since you are no longer doomed with a human lifespan, and had Mukuro not shown up today, I would have taken you aside at some point and asked you to join with me in a demon mating." He stepped closer again and brushed the hair away from my neck.

"And that you see life without me as nothing but duty and power struggles?" I shivered at his touch.

He nuzzled my neck. "I see life without you as very bleak. I have never felt like this, and, if you had stayed human, would likely never feel this again." His words were whispered right onto the junction of neck and shoulder, like he was preparing to mark me right then and there.

He never got the chance, because something grabbed and threw me at the edge of the cliff. I had just enough presence of mind to call up the wind to catch me.

Mukuro tore into Hiei. I couldn't hear her words, but her intent was cast around her like crime scene tape. And I felt every hit and scream as he did. That pissed me off.

I flew into Mukuro as fast as I could get the wind to propel me. "Bitch! Lay off my oni-san!" We tumbled about 75 feet downhill, punching, kicking and pulling hair, like a proper girlfight.

I gained the upper hand and straddled her, pinning her arms with my knees. "Do" punch, "not" punch, "EVER" punch, "treat him" punch punch, "like that" punch, "again!" punch punch punch.

She shifted and threw me into a tree. "Why should I listen to a weak bitch like you?"

I started to power up. I laughed when she got a shocked look when I didn't stop at the level she was expecting. "I may be a weak bitch, but I have more than you will ever gain in your life."

She powered up as well. "I don't need anyone else. I thought that Hiei felt the same, and we could just, watch each other's backs when necessary."

"Baka. Everyone needs what I got. Friends who have their back no matter the cost, and a lover who doesn't give a crap that you're more scarred on the inside than the outside, and would gladly kill anyone who had hurt you to make you that way." I pushed a little when the edge of my aura met hers. It was like pushing aside a beaded curtain.

"And what happens when they turn on you, use you for what you can gain for them?" She tried to push back, but my years of keeping a demon's energy contained caused her to keep losing ground.

"I don't know you, I don't know what you've gone through, but I can tell you that they were not worth your time or any of the emotions you wasted on them then and now." I pushed once more, then set a lightning bolt at her. I had learned it during the battle in the park, one more thing I had to thank those bastards for.

It caused a massive short in her borg bits. She fell to the ground, unable to stand. I hit her with a second, to truly fry the circuts. I wouldn't kill her, not if I could help it. She twiched as the shorted circutry sent shockwaves into her more normal parts. "Finish me."

"Fuck you." I turned my back on her and walked a few steps.

Hiei was in front of me. "No one has ever fought for me like that."

I smiled and caressed his cheek. "Nobody treats MY oni-san like that."

He nuzzled the crook of my neck. "I want to mark you so badly right now."

I nuzzled him. "Then do it. I want you to."

"We mark as equals. You bite me at the same time as I bite you." he licked at the spot he'd be biting.

I spoke the first half of the binding words. "I bind me to you and you to me, from this day until we cease to be."

His teeth slid into my neck and I bit down on him. His blood seeped onto my tongue. It tasted of campfire smoke and ice. I pulled away when he did.

"Where you go, I shall always follow, even to death's door." He seemed to whisper the second half of the binding as if he'd just run three marathons in a row.

"This is all lovely and romantic, but you should really finish me off now. Its not like I'll live very long as crippled as I am." Mukuro sounded like she'd finally stopped zapping herself with her fried parts.

I turned and growled at her. "Excuse me, I don't remember saying you could intrude on my moment with my mate."

She scoffed. "If you didn't want me to interrupt, you should have killed me first."

* * *

there, happies. Have you figured out the funeral? Sorry mukuro fans, even after rewatching the end of the series again, I still don't like her. She strikes me as kind of possessive and such.

Wish me luck, I'm interviewing at bartending school tomorrow. (the luck is not for the school, its for the bus and train ride to get there.)


	23. Chapter 23

I don't own YYH, nor do I own the Borg, or Seven of Nine. Would that I could, but I can't, so I don't. They belong to their respective creators. Pyro and all other OC's and the plot are mine, and mine alone, even though my boyfriend is very mad at me for the chick fight in the previous chapter and hiei's response to it. It will all work out. (he's never gonna read this story at this point...)

LostCause6661: ily sweetie. I kind of lol'd at mukuro's interruption while I was writing it, all three times.

Kagome141414: yay! Thank you! Yes, hiei's such a sweet little teme now. (teme means bastard, learned that in a fanfic)

wolvesrain17: she's not defeated, just down. I can't say any more, or I'll give away the chapter.

* * *

"_If you didn't want me to interrupt, you should have killed me first."_

I glared at the fallen demon. Her twitching had stopped, and she was struggling to her feet. "Seriously, you still don't get it?" I growled.

"No. Explain it to me little girl." Mukuro taunted.

"You lost. Stay down." I ended my statement with a feline hiss.

"Onna, walk away. I do not need you to fight for your position any more." Hiei tugged at my arm.

"Oh, but I need to continue this fight. I'm going to kill the little bitch." Mukuro growled and started to power up again.

Hiei stood between us like a human shield. "You cannot kill her. Equal mating."

Mukuro continued to power up. "I noticed. Any demon in this country would have noticed that mating."

"Look, I'm done fighting you. We fought, I won, end of story." I sighed and moved backward with my mate. He was backing into me to get his point across that the situation was very bad.

Hiei kept backing into me and inching us away from the angry demon lord. "If you cannot see reason, I will be forced to take over the territory."

Mukuro advanced on us with a murderous look in her eyes. "You will do no such thing. You'll be dead along with your kitty."

I cursed under my breath. I held on to Hiei's cloak and backed up a little faster. Not good.

"You're not as strong as you were when we met. We're still young, and will grow in power. You have been in a steady decline." Hiei said in an even tone. I knew better though.

"I'm still strong enough to take out an upstart little bitch." Mukuro growled.

I started projecting calming emotions. Maybe, just maybe she wouldn't be guarded for my brand of psychic abilities.

Hiei flashed me a look. 'I hope you know what you are doing.'

'Not really, but I'll figure something out as I go.' I hope.

The intensity of the crazy in Mukuro's eyes dimmed. "Get out of my head."

"I'm not in your head. I don't want to be in your head. You're more psycho than I care to be." I shot back. I kept throwing calming thoughts into the area.

The crazy in her eyes dialed back up to Norman Bates levels. "So that's how you stole my intended."

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't steal him. You threw him out."

"It was one fight." She protested. She stopped dead in her tracks and got a childish, petulant look on her face.

"One fight that week. The month before you kicked me out we fought almost every day, more than once a day." Hiei pointed out.

"Gods, that had to suck. Too much negativity." I patted my oni-san's shoulder.

"We did not." she crossed her arms.

Hiei snorted. "Right, you just screamed and threw things for the hell of it."

I threw my arms around Hiei and hugged him from behind. "My poor dragon. No wonder you were such a dick at first."

Hiei patted my arms where they crossed over his chest. "Its done now, Mukuro. You can't kill one without killing the other, and I doubt you'd risk a war with Tourin and Ganderra for killing two demons dear to high ranking officials in those territories. Not to mention risking the wrath of the king for starting it."

"A war? Over the likes of you? That's rich." Mukuro laughed. "Kurama can't even stand the sight of the woman."

"I can stand the sight of her a lot better than I can stand the sight of you right now." Kurama's irritated voice rang through the clearing.

"Kurama, this is our fight." Hiei growled.

"Hush, oni-san. He is making our point." I hissed in his ear.

"The fox does not rule Ganderra. And I do not see the mazoku anywhere." Mukuro taunted. "Your point is not made."

Kurama chuckled. "If the point is that Alaric will be wiped from the face of demon world in the event this fight ends badly, then, yes, it is a valid point." the fox turned to fix me in his calm gaze. "Thistle, please do hurry up and end this. Dinner shall be very cold as it is."

I grinned. At least someone believed in me. "Who cooked?"

"Yukina."

"Damn. Bitch made me late for my favourite chef." I glared at the borg-like female. Her face reflected the confusion she was wrapped in.

"I refuse to allow this fight." Hiei moved as I did, keeping his body between me and his boss.

"Hiei, you know as well as I do that fights between women are not up to their mate." I sighed. "You can't even give the call on if it will be to the death, which I assume Mukuro is aiming for."

Hiei spun to face me. "I forbid this fight! She is not the low-level street trash you are used to. Even Eoghan was weak comparatively."

I crossed my arms and glared. "You forget how long I have been fighting demons. And how many centuries' worth of fights I have stored in my twisted little brain." 'And you know my shields can keep anything where I want it.'

"I know that. I forbid the fight for my own reasons." Hiei reached out and brushed a stray hair out of my face. 'First and foremost is that I spent almost a year keeping you mostly in one piece. I can't fail now that you're a demon.'

I laughed. Threw my head back and cackled like the stereotype of the witch I was. 'You don't want to rule yet.'

Kurama yelled out a warning. Hiei and I dove in opposite directions just in time to evade a pair of throwing knives.

"Are you two done bickering yet?" Mukuro asked. She sounded annoyed. Good.

I stood and grinned my most evil grin at her. "Are you really that ready to die?"

She threw another knife at me. I caught it and sent it back at her. It hit her non-borg shoulder, and sunk to the hilt.

"Pyro, stop. You can't do this." Hiei grabbed my arm before I could advance on the bitch.

I didn't turn. "Hiei, she threatened your life. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to eliminate the threat."

"I know. I'm having the same problem. But you shouldn't." He sighed and dropped his hand.

"Right, you're the heir to her throne. Go ahead honey, you let me beat the crap out of her, and you get the kill shot." I chuckled at my own knowledge of demon customs.

Hiei rolled his eyes at me. "Onna, really?"

I caught another of Mukuro's throwing knives without looking. "Yes, Oni-san, really."

"Living with a human has made you weak, Hiei." Mukuro taunted.

Hiei had his katana through her throat in half a blink. "Never call me weak."

Mukuro's eyes were wide in shock. She made a strangled sound.

Hiei withdrew his sword and cut off her head.

Yusuke stumbled to a stop too late for the fight. "Dammit, I miss all the best fights around here!" He clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Well done kitty."

I glared at the zombie. "Ow, mating mark."

He backed up with his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "My bad."

Kurama put his hand on Hiei's shoulder. "You know you have to go back now."

Hiei growled a little. "The mating is equal, fox. Remove your hand."

Kurama chuckled, but did as he was asked.

"Wow, mated and royalty in less than twenty minutes. And moving again, I assume from Kurama's remark." I giggled and moved to stand beside Hiei.

Hiei slipped his arm around my waist. "Mukuro is dead, I have to go take my place as successor, or the territory will slip into complete chaos, and the king will be very displeased."

"Who is the king now? I missed the last few tournaments." Yusuke asked.

"Enki, again. He declined to fight for two tournaments, lost one, and won the last. He says he will not fight the tournament again." Hiei said.

"Cool. Well, lets go get your stuff, you've got a territory to rule." Yusuke started back toward the temple.

"Kurama?" I caught the fox demon's arm before he could follow the zombie.

"Yes, lady?" He looked down and to the right.

"First off, stop that. I'm always gonna be the same Thistle. Second, help me create something to deliver the body in?" I said, giving the kitsune's arm a shake.

"I was giving you the honour due you as royalty." Kurama smiled at me and met my eyes. "But I will refrain if you ask."

I rolled my eyes and smacked the air in front of his nose.

* * *

I found myself once again saying goodbye to the people I'd spent nearly a year living and fighting with. But only Yukina and Kuwabara were outside to see us off.

"Kieko is refusing to say goodbye to you again. Yusuke is trying to get her to see reason." Yukina said with one of her musical giggles.

"Somebody oughta warn Urameshi that you can't talk sense into a woman in that kind of state. She'll get over it on her own." Kuwabara added.

That earned him a light backhand slap from me. It still knocked him down, but at least I didn't break anything.

"Onna, if you break him, my sister will be pissed at you." Hiei's chuckle stopped me from the flood of apologies that was about to flood out of my mouth.

"Eh, you'd like that." I gave my mate a glare. It still felt wierdly awesome to call him that. "You, carrot top. Take care of my sister in law, wouldja?"

"Sister, actually." Yukina coughed slightly.

"Um, what?" Great, shock still left me less than eloquent.

"Well, since it was an equal mating, you are quite literally half of my brother, so I am now your sister." Yukina explained with a smile that could light a whole city.

"Awesome." I met her smile with one of my own. "I kind of missed having sisters."

The little ice demon hugged me tight. "You keep my brother sane, okay?"

I hugged her back. "Kina, I meant it the last time we parted, no worries."

Yusuke walked out the door. "She said she won't come out because she'll cry. I will never understand that woman." He shook his head and moved to the small pile of boxes that represented my entire human existence.

Kurama showed up with the vine body bag we'd created. Hiei and I moved to take it from him. He merely bowed his head and backed away.

The portal glowed, rather than popped. Kurama and Yusuke fell into step behind Hiei and I, carrying the boxes. I had the sinking feeling that we were about to run into something rather unpleasant.

* * *

Oooooo, foreboding. The story doesn't end yet my dears. We gotta get the new royals situated, don't we? And pyro, the lovely flighty dear, has yet to throw one of her fits about being a demon. :-)

sorry about the lateness. We've been rearranging rooms here, and I've been in a freaking LOT of pain.


	24. Chapter 24

I have 55 reviews! Yay! Thank you all so much! Please send more.

LostCause6661: she goes by pyro, kurama just calls her thistle to be different, and because he thinks feochadan is hard to say. (I know, I already gave the fox a strange look for that.) actually, all of the demons pretty much call her Feochadan except yusuke and hiei. Yeah, they get to be royals, because they just rock so hard like that.

Kagome141414: thank you. I'm doing a lot better than I was. Not the best yet, but getting there.

wolvesrain17: man, this writing program hates leaving your handle lowercase. Lol, thank you for the review sweetie. Yeah, I'm not fond of mukuro either, she just seems like she got uber clingy after the series ended.

* * *

We were met at the portal by a group of rather dangerous-looking, uniformed demons. The sight of the bodybag hanging from our hands didn't seem to phase them one bit. In fact, the feeling of relief washed over them as they, in a single move, dropped to one knee and said, "My Lord, Hiei."

"Hn, get up." Hiei grunted. Secretly, he was pleased that they thought he was the better choice as Lord.

The demon with the most stripes stepped forward. "My Lord, I see that Lord Mukuro found you." Two other demons moved to take the body from us at a nod from the speaker.

"She did. There was a disagreement over my choice of mate." Hiei shrugged. "I was forced to kill her when she did not take defeat gracefully as befits a Lord."

The demon turned to me and did a gladiator type salute. You know, where they put a fist to their opposite shoulder and bow slightly. "My Lady."

'Don't suppose I could somehow get out of that title crap.' I gave Hiei a hopeful look.

'Don't even try, onna.' He smirked at me. "You there, take the boxes from Lord Yusuke and General Kurama. My mate and I are moving to the new fortress, the one that does not resemble the innards of a bug."

Yusuke handed his load over, then took a couple demons through for the rest. Five boxes, total. I looked askance at Hiei when the clothes got left behind.

"Ningen clothing stays in ningenkai. You will have clothes by the end of the day." Hiei explained.

Yusuke patted my non-bitten shoulder. "What he's not telling you is that they'll mostly be made of demon silk, and one item would pay your rent for three years."

The leader spoke again. "Will Lord Yusuke and General Kurama be staying for the funeral?"

Hiei turned to the pair. "Well?"

Kurama shook his head. "Since I am here, I should check in with Yomi. I will extend an invitation to the ceremonies?"

"Yes, fox. Thank you." Hiei replied. He almost smiled at the red head.

Kurama bowed slightly, then ran off. He had become a silver fox before he'd gotten more than ten feet away.

"I might as well stick around. With the way I run, I'd be a day and a half late." Yusuke shrugged and grinned.

Two demons stepped forward. "We are not as fast as you, Lord Hiei, but we can get to Tourin, and the King by night fall." the one on the left said.

"Good, go. The ceremonies start at midafternoon." Hiei said.

* * *

The fortress was impressive. It looked like a medieval castle, but without the moat. Simple, rough hewn rock made up the outer walls. The inner keep had been made smooth, so even if something got in, they could not scale the walls. I half expected to see dirty peasants and animals roaming about, but was wrong. Everyone seemed neat and clean (for a demon), and none were idle.

Hiei grabbed a passing maid. "Gather everyone in the main hall. I only wish to make this announcement once."

She dropped a curtsey and ran off with a mumbled, "Yes, my Lord."

Another of the servants approached. "My Lord, Which of the rooms will you be moving into?"

"The set that had been designated for Mukuro, she will not be needing them." Hiei said after a moment's thought.

The servant bowed and scurried off to direct the demons with the boxes.

I turned to my mate with a smirk. "You're pretty good with all this Lord crap."

He shrugged. "I have been a Lord for several years now. After the first king, the following kings decided that having the territories in place made it easier to control the population. So, after fourteen years, I should have a handle on it." He offered me his arm. "I'll show you to the main hall."

I threaded my arm through his. "And every where between here and there?" I gave him a grin.

"Of course, onna." He patted my hand where it rested on his forearm. "What would you like to be called? If you wish to leave your human identity behind, I will not object."

I thought for a moment. "I think I would like to be known as Feochadan. That's what most of the demons who taught me call me anyways."

"I noticed. Will I have to change what I call you?"

I gave him a confused look.

"Do I call you Pyro and onna, or do I have to start calling you Feochadan as well?"

"You can call me anything you like, my darling." I chuckled and leaned into his side.

* * *

By the time my tour to the main hall was over, the room was full. The crowd parted and dropped to one knee as we walked up to the raised dias at the far end. When we turned to face the assembled demons, they had risen to their feet again.

"Lord Mukuro has fallen. I have returned to take my place as your new Lord." Hiei said in a loud voice. His tone and stance dared someone to make a move against him.

The demons stomped. The noise was like a hundred timpani drums* being beaten all at once.

"This cat demon is my mate. You will obey Lady Feochadan as you would obey me."

The stomping increased.

'They stomp to show their approval.' Hiei squeezed my hand gently.

I squeezed his in return. 'Like when humans clap?'

'Yes.' "Mukuro's funeral ceremony starts tomorrow at mid-afternoon. We will be hosting the other Lords, and the King. Go prepare the castle and grounds. You know what needs done." Hiei made a dismissive motion with the hand that wasn't holding mine.

The demons scattered.

Hiei led me over to a long bench. The decorations and size led me to think it doubled as a throne for official purposes. "I need to prepare you for tomorrow." He looked away, as if collecting his thoughts.

"Whatever it is, you can tell me sweetheart." I sat next to him and forced hime to look at me.

"I want you to stay with the women tomorrow. No matter what you may see or hear, you have to promise you'll stay with the women." he blurted after a moment.

I sighed. "You have to fight."

"It is only a formality. I have to prove myself against the general and top two sargents in our army. I could easily best them, even if they weren't surrendering within moments of the start."

This time I looked away. "They have to hurt you. Lotus was at a Lord's funeral in Alaric once."

"Yes, they have to cut me. Just once. I'm telling you, so that you do not jump in and kill them. It would look bad."

I looked him in the eye. "You're a dick. You know I'll feel it."

"I'm sorry."

"I have to be there. Do not even think about telling me to stay in the room."

He nodded. "When the fight is done, the guard will lead you down to me, and you will be given the keys to the castle, and we will be acknowledged Lord and Lady of Alaric."

I snorted in derision. "How very medieval of you."

"Shut up. You humans achieved widespread peace faster than demons. We've only had a king for fifteen years. And even then, if I hadn't already proven I can put down any demon who challenged, the fights tomorrow would be real."

"Power solidified in the hands of the strongest." I grinned at my scowling mate. "Its a very good thing the strongest demons are on friendly terms then."

"Only between tournaments." he chuckled.

I gave him a confused look.

"Right, its one of those new things you wouldn't have leftover from her. Every three years all demons gather for the demon tournament. The winner gains the kingship and rules all of Makai. Yusuke started it so he wouldn't have to go to war with Yomi and Mukuro." He grinned at me, pleased to finally have to explain something about demons.

"Did I hear my name?" Yusuke sauntered over to us.

"I am explaining a few things about tomorrow, and later this year." Hiei glanced at the zombie, then back at me.

"You entering the tourney this year, three-eyes?" Yusuke grinned. He stuck his hands in his pockets.

"I do not know yet." He gave me a hopeful look.

I patted his knee. "Not if there's a real chance of you getting us killed in the process."

"I think I'll have to pass for a few years. Maybe after my mate gives me an heir." Hiei gave Yusuke a grin and a wink.

"Sick, man. You are so whipped already." Yusuke laughed.

I growled. "No, you're just a damn jackass. Dying twice must have fried your give-a-shit neurons." I said in a sugar-sweet voice.

The zombie stepped into a defensive stance, then stopped. "If you weren't..."

I jumped up before he could finish. "If I weren't what? A girl? Hiei's woman? You really are an idiot if you think that matters."

"No!" Yusuke backed up a pace. "If you weren't so damn scary! You nearly wasted my ass as a human, I'm not so sure I wanna test you now that you're a demon."

"I did?" I calmed instantly from the shock.

"Hell yeah. You were very powerful, even without Lotus helping that one time." Yusuke laughed a little. He was still nervous.

Hiei stood and took my hand again. "You were very strong, even when we met you. I was impressed."

I dropped back down on the bench. "Holy Hades. Coming from you, that says a lot."

"Just let me know when you're competing in the demon tourney, so I can drop out." Yusuke ran his hand through his black hair.

I gave him the look that said he's cracked. "And what the hell am I gonna do? Cute you to death with my kitty ears and tail?"

Hiei shook his head and chuckled. "Do you not know what being a mid A means?"

"Um, not really. I think Lotus failed to pay attention to that kind of thing." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I'm an upper S. A is right below S, so that means you're damn near the top of the food chain." Yusuke explained, scratching the back of his head and grinning.

"With a little work, you'll be equal to the idiot, since he hardly ever trains." Hiei gave our zombie friend a pointed glare.

I snorted again. "Like I'm ever gonna slack off. Be serious, oni-san." I stroked my fire demon's arm. "I gotta protect your scrawny backside."

Hiei growled a warning at me.

"My Lords, My Lady, dinner is served in the small dining room."

I sighed in relief as Hiei led me from the room. Saved by the dinner bell, sort of.

* * *

There, what do you lovelies think? Kind of twisted, but what do you expect of demons? On a sadder note, only two chapters left for this story. Leave me reviews please.


	25. Chapter 25

Hello. I am a bit encouraged tonight. I have gone and lost my suddenly demonic notebook. I am looking for it, but it takes time. I put up a side project, completely unconnected, but still YYH. Its called humanoide. Um, I really am sorry for the lack of updates. First bartending school kicked my arse, now I've gone and lost my book. i swear to update very very soon.


	26. Chapter 26

My apologies, lovelies, it seems I have yet again forgotten to explain a starred item. Tympani drums are the great big drums in an orchestra that they do the DUN dun DUN dun sound effects with. They are large and loud and most orchestras only use one, MAYBE two if its a larger orchestra, so 100 would be damn near deafening.

wolvesrain17: I know, I know. But all stories must end at some point. (besides, the sequel is in third person semi-omniscient, I really can't shift POV like that in the middle.)

Kagome141414: thank you! I'm so glad you've stuck around this long!

LostCause6661: squealing because of updates is a BAD way to wake the fam. And yes, dear, there is a sequel. (spoiler alert: there will be firekittens... and a lovely little vixen...) I just don't know what to call the next story, titles were NEVER my strong point... I may just steal a lyric or something.

The usual disclaimer, I own naught but the characters I added in to make things interesting. Yes, I made hiei emotionally aware, yusuke a bigger idiot than before, and kurama into a jealous turd of a kitsune. I promise to reset them when I've done with them.

* * *

After dinner, Hiei led me directly to our rooms, claiming travel fatigue. I knew better, of course, but I also knew better than to call bull shit on Hiei when he's stressed. And the pending funeral had him stressed.

I expected to have to put some things away, or fuss with the room somehow. I was pleasantly surprised, much to Hiei's amusement, when I got in and found everything put away and in their proper places. Even my altar was set up in perfect directional alignment*.

"Wow, just wow. And stop smirking at me jerk." I glared at my mate. It was a half-assed glare, shush.

"I told you they would know how to set up the room." He smirked again, then got his serious face on. "I'd ask you to be absent tomorrow if I could."

I walked across the black and red carpet to sit in the windowsill with him. "You couldn't stop me. I said I'd stay beside you, and I frikken will."

He looked out the window. "Block me out completely. Don't watch. I do not want you to hurt as well."

I made him look me in the eye. "There is no way in hell I will do that."

He suddenly hugged me tight.

"I'm going to feel it anyway. I need to see what happens, Hiei. I need to be there with you." I spoke softly, and wrapped my arms around him as well.

He gave me a curious look. "Are you about to kiss my nose?"

I kissed his nose.

"You are strange, onna."

I grinned at him and stood. "I do believe we've had this discussion before."

"Yes. You are strange, and I love you anyway." He smirked, and followed my backwards path across the room.

I stopped and gasped. "You said it."

He shrugged. "Not really. But I will."

"You don't have to if you're not comf..."

He flitted to stand directly in front of me and put his finger on my lips. "I love you. You deserve to hear it, not just infer it from my actions."

I moved his finger and kissed his lips. Hard. 'Gods I love you.'

I could feel his smirk grow against my lips. 'And this would be why I will tell you often.'

I pulled away from him and lightly slapped his arm. "You don't have to be a dick about it."

"I'm not." He pulled me close again. "I want to tell you because when you're happy, you always share it. Not like Lotus, and forcing it, but just a nudge."

"Happy needs to be shared. If its too much, I'll stop." I grinned at his blush at admitting to liking softer emotions.

"No, its fine. I've spent my whole life being pissed off." He made sure to lock eyes with me and not let me look away.

"So, you like being happy now?" That's it, my firebug's a pod person. "Who are you and what have you done to my surly firebug?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "Only you would say something like that now, onna."

"Because I loves me my surly firebug. I fought hard to get my surly firebug, and keep him. And if I have to, I will fight off females every day."

He decided it was time to make me shut up and kissed me hard. We tumbled into bed, kissing like it was about to be illegal.

* * *

The next afternoon, we were almost late to report to the servants. I preferred to dress myself, but for demon ceremonies, I figured it would be better to submit to the indignity of being dressed by people who know what I'm supposed to wear. I was very confused when they dressed me in fighting clothes, a tank top and pants similar to what Hiei wore at the temple.

My confusion grew when they led me past the women's section to stand beside Hiei at the main door to the arena. I gave my mate a confused and questioning look.

"Were my orders about her not clear enough?" Hiei growled at the general.

"My lord, the mazoku told the elders of the true story of your fight with Lord Mukuro, and it was their decision to make Lady Feochadan your co-ruler." the general explained.

"Shit fuck damn hell." I muttered. I knew telling Hiei I'd fight for him every day was going to bite my ass.

The general put a hand on my shoulder. "It is only a token fight, my lady."

"Remove your hand or I will remove it for you." I growled. What the idiot had thought to be a comforting gesture had hit my mating mark, and it hurt.

The demon in question backed up several paces. "My apologies."

Hiei kissed the mark. "Do not maim our general, Pyro, it would be difficult to replace him this close to the ceremony."

I sighed. "Oh fine. How long will it take this bite to heal anyway?"

Hiei chuckled. "A couple of days at the longest."

* * *

"CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON." a voice boomed from somewhere in the stands.

The weapons rack we were given held a katana, a naginata, and a bo. Hiei, predictably, selected the katana. I picked up the naginata. Symbolic fight or no, I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing at the very least.

"Hn, good choice." Hiei smirked at me as we moved to the line in the middle of the Roman-style arena.

"Shut up." I grinned back at him, not completely annoyed at his condescending remark.

The general I had threatened and the top two commanders under him, I think they were lieutenants, stepped into the arena opposite us. All three held katanas.

The voice boomed out again. "Lord Hiei and his mate, Lady Feochadan, did recently best Lord Mukuro in combat, therefore it is the will of the elders that they be tested and rule together, as is the custom of our people."

I could feel the mental headslap Hiei gave himself this time. I'd suspected he'd mentally slapped himself the first time it was explained. I couldn't hold back the giggle.

"ATTACK!" the voice boomed, spurring the weakest of the demons to charge at us.

'Let him draw first blood, that is the custom. Then we will make him surrender.' Hiei's voice reminded me it was fake.

The commander's sword flashed. A line of pain bloomed up my left arm. The ghost of a pain in my right arm let me know Hiei had been hit. My power flared before I could calm it.

Together my blade flashed up and around with Hiei's, and they crossed at the demon's throat. He dropped his sword, and we let him go.

The next two fights went the same, complete with me getting mildly pissed at them cutting my oni-san. The cuts were stacked, each higher than the one previous. And the unspoken demand to surrender was always our blades crossed at the offender's throat.

"The Lord and Lady have proven themselves worthy to rule, long may they reign." the voice boomed over the sounds of hundreds of demons stomping.

The pink demon who had led the team of maids that had dressed me for this thing walked out. She knelt at my feet and held up a very large ring of keys. "The doors of the castle are open to you my lady."

A soldier walked out and knelt before Hiei. He held up a cat-o-nine-tails. "The armies are yours to command my lord."

I grumbled my displeasure at my mate as a very large red demon strode toward us.

'That is the king, Enki.' Hiei said in my head. He was a little too free with the mind-to-mind since we'd mated.

"Lord Hiei, may I offer condolences or congratulations?" Enki's voice was almost as loud as the voice that had yelled out directions.

"Congratulations. The condolences would be wasted." Hiei grumbled.

I elbowed his side. "Thank you for both, my liege."

"Please, just call me Enki."

I nodded.

He stepped aside, revealing Yusuke and a bald demon.

"Nice ceremony. Kitty needs to keep a lid on it." Yusuke grinned.

"Zombie needs to know when to ess-tee-eff-u." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Anyway, this is our official renewing of the peace treaty between our territories, as witnessed by the king. I hope we stay in your good graces, because Hokushin here said you might beat him." Yusuke gave us a wry grin. The demon behind him nodded.

"I accept the treaty, detective." Hiei chuckled.

"What he said." I grinned.

Yusuke and his friend stepped aside to reveal Kurama and an odd looking demon.

'That is Yomi. The goat is blind, so he added things to enhance his senses.' Hiei explained in my head.

The demon bowed to me. "Lady Feochadan, if your energy spike is any indication of your power, I wish to request the privilege to spar you."

"Um, I thought that was against demon law?" I stuttered a little.

"The previous king decided that females should be allowed to spar, mated or not." Kurama explained.

"And I also wish to extend the treaty between our territories." Yomi added.

"Treaty accepted. Sparring, not so much." I replied.

"Treaty accepted, goat." Hiei growled.

I placed my hand on my mate's arm.

He put his hand over mine, then said, "Come, let us feast and remember the life of the lord who has died." It sounded silly as hell, but it was the ceremonial way to tell the dignitaries to shut up, because the officious crap was over.

* * *

*witches' altars are set up facing a certain direction depending on the energies they want to harness.

Next chapter: the feast.

I lied, there's one chapter, and an epilogue. And so you know, I passed my exams for bar school, and I am now a fully certified mixologist.


	27. Chapter 27

wolvesrain17 : I would recommend something here, but there are many teenies here, and I do not want to be in trouble for somehow contributing to teenie drunkenness. XD as soon as I find the notebook. (I swear they grow legs and walk away!)

LostCause6661 : the sequel is on hold for reasons stated up there^. When you are legal, look me up, I'll see what I can do. ;) yes, I love their banter too. Don't worry, it continues on in the next story. And he IS a surly firebug. And their awful tradition thingie is kinda like, lord insurance. (and demons are all about scars...)

I do not own the original YYH characters. They WANTED to be OOC, so that is how I wrote them. Do not worry, they will go back to being their original selves when I've done with them. I DO own all OC's, namely (in this chapter) pyro, and the pink housekeeper, maya.

I'm sorry, I may have lied. There may be two final chapters and an epilogue segue. I didn't realise just how much I had left. (that's what happens when you write right side up on one side of the page, and upsidedown on the other.)

* * *

Inside, I was almost immediately whisked away by the maids into an empty room. Well, I'd thought it was a room, but it was actually a frikken HUGE closet. I was stripped, bathed and had my hair swept up into a half up half down style that kept my ears uncovered.

After that, a sleeveless dress was practically painted onto me. The torso was super tight, but not restrictive, and the skirt flared out to a full almost touching the floor length. It was lavender, with a pale blue sash.

I drew the line at the makeup. They wanted to do something dramatic and cakey. "I will not wear anything that will make my mate not recognize me. I am the lady of this damn castle and I WILL be recognizable at all times." I growled. My eyes may have gone a little crazy, because the women paled and mumbled their "yes ma'am."

The leader of the group was the same pink demoness from the funeral games. "What is your name?" I asked her.

"Maya, ma'am. I'm the head of housekeeping." She paused for a moment, holding a pot of bright red goo and a small paint brush.

"And what is that stuff?" I pointed at said pot. At least the contents didn't bubble or steam.

"Rouge. For your lips, and cheeks."

I sighed. "Honey, you and I need to have us a sit down to discuss getting the makeup out of the middle ages."

She bowed slightly before starting to apply the goo. "As my lady wishes."

* * *

Hiei was waiting, pacing the space in front of the doors to the main hall, looking like he was trying to decide if he should run away. He was in a black silk tunic and pants, with a red trim that almost perfectly matched his eyes. His hair still defied gravity, and his jagan was still covered in the multi-coloured paisley bandana I'd given him.

"Oh, wow, Hiei, you clean up nice." I grinned. My tail, which I'd kinda forced the women to make a small hole in the dress for, curled around my waist.

"I don't think I've ever seen you in a dress that wasn't a costume." He smirked at me. "I like it." He offered his arm, like a gentleman. I knew hanging out with the fox had taught him some kind of manners.

I curled my arm around his. "Don't get used to it, skirts are terrible to try and fight in."

The doors opened to reveal a lavishly decorated room filled with light and music. Everything stopped, and all the demons not at the head table rose when the doors opened. A deep booming voice announced us as lord and lady as we walked up to the large table. I tried not to gawk, because it would definitely embarrass Hiei.

Yomi and Kurama sat with the general from the funeral games off to Hiei's left. I was on his right, and to my left was the king. I assumed Yusuke and his friend were beyond that, but I couldn't see to confirm, as the king happened to be a mountain of a demon.

"My dear, you clean up very well. Have you met my mate?" Enki said, after we'd settled.

I gave him a small smile. "I have yet to have the pleasure, my lord king."

He sighed as he pushed himself away from the table slightly to reveal a small female demon. "Lady Feochadan, my mate, Koku."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady." I said with a smile.

She returned the smile. "Likewise. I've heard a lot about you."

I giggled. "None of it good, I'm sure."

She laughed heartily. Like threw her head back and laughed. "Your reputation isn't so bad yet, just the demon bitch your soul used to be." She threw me a wink. "We'll work on that."

I rolled my eyes. "If my lord mate ever lets me fight again."

"You have a very long list of demons just waiting for a chance to spar with you, simply because they think you only bested Mukuro because Hiei helped you." Koku laughed. "I'm sure he doesn't want his people to think his mate weak."

Enki began to laugh. "Would you ladies like me to switch seats with one of you?"

"No dear, its fine. I need to talk to Yusuke for a bit anyway." Koku glared up at the ginormous demon king.

"Of course, Koku." Enki smiled at his mate, then turned to me. "So, about that training schedule of yours..."

I threw my hands in the air and rolled my eyes. "Oh my frikken gods! I'm not even a demon for three whole days and already I'm up to my ears in pests!"

Hiei turned and put a protective arm around my shoulders. "Getting asked about training again?"

"Only by everydamnbody I meet. Seriously, Yomi, Koku, Enki... Hell, if they weren't so scared of you, I swear your whole army would be asking right now." I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder. I was frustrated, and his shoulders are surprisingly comfy, so shh.

"That is the way our world works, onna." he chuckled a little, the spiky bastard. "We fight a lot, and over stupid things."

"Screw that." I growled. It was against everything I'd believed for a long time.

"Pyro?" Hiei was awash with confusion, and it showed plainly on his face for once.

'Fuck this shit, I need to leave.' I stood and concentrated. My tail disappeared, and I hoped my ears and crazy hair had as well.

Kurama stood, his demon form towering over me now. "Thistle? Is there something wrong?" I could feel the concern pouring off him.

"No, nothing. I'm just a godsdamned demon." I raced off before any more awkward questions could start. My head hurt.

* * *

So, not only did I have to deal with everyone and their uncle wanting to fight me, just because, I also had to deal with tripping every five feet, because I failed to remember that my demon form was significantly taller than my human form. I soon grew tired of tripping on my skirt, and slumped on a bench against the wall opposite a window and closed my eyes.

I heard running footsteps approach and slow to a stop in front of me. "Thistle? Lady kitty?"

"Go away, Yoko." I sighed.

"Why did you run?"

"K'rama, just leave. I wanna be alone." I sighed again. Damn nosy-ass fox.

"Our world can be quite a shock." The bench creaked as he sat down next to me.

I ran my hand through my hair and glared at him. "Do you really not know the meaning of 'I want to be alone' or are you trying to piss me the hell off?"

"Well, it was either I come down here and try to get you to talk, or your mate comes down and carries you back to the feast and basically yells at you for the rest of the evening." Kurama sighed.

'Fuck you, oni-sama." I glared in the direction of the hall.

"Now, why are you out here, in human form, and pissed enough to broadcast it in a ten-foot radius?" He wrapped an arm around my shoulders in an almost brotherly gesture.

I leaned on his shoulder. It was a little bony, but I was done being picky about it. "Its just, I've been a witch for years. I was ok with all the fighting and crap before because it was to protect you guys, and the worlds. kinda like karma on speed."

"And why is being a demon so opposite that?"

"The main rule of Wicca- harm none. Then there's the Rule of Three; every action will eventually come back three-fold." *

"Then our ways of fighting for the hell of it are anathema. But why are you out here sulking?"

"Because that is all anyone wants to ask me about!" I sat up straight and fairly shoved his arm back at him.

Kurama rubbed his wrist, like it hurt. "Mukuro was, well, she was incredibly strong. She made it to the semi-finals of the demon world tournament three times, and you bested her in one fight. Those who think themselves strong wish to test themselves against you, as an instinct."

"Well, my instinct is to tell them all to bugger off." I snapped. I was quiet about it, even though I wanted to scream it down the hallway.

"Your demon instinct kicked in earlier at the funeral games. Everyone sat up and took notice at the flares you let off when they cut Hiei." He gave me a look of pride, like I was his prize student. Hell of a turnaround from being the enemy a few months previous.

I blushed and shrugged. "I just don't like my mate getting hurt."

"Your instinct to protect gained intensity. Gods help any being stupid enough to attempt to harm your future kittens." He chuckled at my growl. "I'm sure if you go back and explain yourself, they would back down for a few weeks at least. Demons are not complete barbarians."

"I'm not even sure I want to stay in this world. I'm not a person who likes violence, and this world is full of it." I started to pace in front of the bench. Talk therapy was definitely NOT helping.

He gave me a look of pure disbelief. "You, who broke a man's elbow on your last night as a human, doesn't like violence?"

"It was self defense! And I warned him ahead of time!" I stopped for half a second to glare at the shocked fox. "I was eager to train and shit to PROTECT the worlds from me. Mission accomplished, bitch is reformed, I'm fully me, end of fucking story. I'm done." I kept walking in a direction I was pretty sure led out of the castle.

Kurama ran and caught my arm. "Thistle..."

I yanked my arm out of his grasp. "I said I'm done!" I started running again. The first time I tripped, I turned the fall into a transformation to my oversize black tabby form and jumped out the nearst window into a tree. Once out, I just kept running.

* * *

I finally decided to rest about a mile away from the castle, in a tall tree. Hiei's habits influenced the decision, since being in a tree allows you to scope a stalker without getting caught. 'Can't even be alone as a godsdamned cat.' I grumbled to myself.

A silver fox circled the base of the tree, confusion peppering the air.

I hissed. 'Fucking oni-sensei, piss off.'

'It is not safe for you to be out here alone.' a voice more like Yoko's floated through the back of my brain.

'Then I will go to the portal and back to the temple. I need to be alone.'

'Hiei will not allow it.'

'Hiei can kiss my furry ass.'

'I made your apologies. There are a lot of sympathetic demons back there.'

'I don't want their sympathy.' I hissed and spat at the fox from my perch in the tree.

'The king and his mate send their most sincere apologies.'

'They can keep 'em.' I started to run along the branch to get to the next tree.

'Why are you so upset?'

'Because I fucking am! You've had years to come to terms with this shit, and Yusuke was born violent if you believe the shit Kuwabara says. I've had three days and NO down time at all.'

I kept running in the direction of the portal, the whole time vaguely aware of Kurama's energy following me at a discrete distance.

* * *

Ok, I have to stop. This time I'm sure, one more chapter, and then the epilogue/teaser.

*the wiccan rede gives the harm none law more poetically. And its against intentional harm, accidental harm will still bite your ass under the rule of three. And in my understanding of things, as a witch of the grey area, you harm me and mine, I have every right to wreak havoc on you.

#and yes, once upon a time, rouge for cheeks and lips were the same thing, and women whitened their faces with a lime and wax mixture, and not the citrus fruit kind of lime either. The caustic stuff that could melt your flesh from your bones if you apply it wrong kind. (I am a nerd. I am proud of it.)


	28. Chapter 28

Last real chapter dearies. I just realized that I pulled an element out of an unrelated story in the form of a garish (but awesome) black with multi-coloured paisley bandana. I apologize. So I will fix it by saying she gave it to him during their time as fortune-tellers.

wolvesrain17 : no wings on my notebooks, they are definitely land-dwelling. I usually find them on the floor...{goes off to look on the floor}

once again, I own nothing but the plot and my OC's. I'd list them all, but there are just too many. The boys and other characters I borrowed from YYH will revert to normal after the story (and sequel) are over. XD please to read and review.

* * *

Kuwabara and Yukina were out in the garden talking softly. I slunk over and rubbed my new sister's leg like I was a regular tabby cat looking for attention.

She reached down and picked me up to look at my eyes. "Well, hello there."

Kuwabara noticed us staring at each other and reached out to scratch my head. "Aww! What a cute little kitty. What should we call her?"

Yukina set me down in her lap and rolled her eyes at the orange-haired doofus. "The cat is Pyro, my new sister. And, judging from the wounds on her leg, she was tested as Hiei's co-ruler today."

I rubbed her chin with my head before curling up on her lap.

"How can you tell, Kina?" The dope just had to go and prove how much he hadn't been paying attention over the last few days.

I just locked eyes with him and glared.

"Oh, that's how. Stop glaring at me please, Pyro." He looked away and shuddered. Then he looked back at me, angry all the sudden. "What did that little jerk do? You wouldn't just run for no reason."

I swatted at his hand. I didn't claw him, because he was being brotherly.

"I don't think that's it at all, Kazu." Yukina said, softly laughing at him yanking his hand out of my reach.

'I don't think I want to be a demon. I want to be human, so that I can stop fighting and go back to my friends.' I hoped at least my new sister could hear me.

'Oh, dear, they are pestering you to fight, aren't they, dear sister?' Yuknia's eyes went wide.

'Its all they wanna talk about! Kurama said they sent apologies, but they won't let up.' I gave the koorime a sad kitty look.

She suddenly pulled me up into a hug. 'They are only demons, Pyro-chan. They feel they have to test their strength.'

'They really need to lay off though.' I growled a little.

"Uh, what's going on?" Kuwabara asked, confused as hell.

I settled down on her lap again, and hid myself from Hiei's jagan. Yukina gave the idiot a run down of our conversation, then looked at me as worry slowly increased.

'My mate is looking for me.' I informed her as matter of factly as I could manage.

'Maybe you should let him find you.' She scanned the forest around us, as if searching for sign of her twin.

I put my paw on her hand. 'May I share my last few days with you?'

She nodded. A tear fell and crystallized when I'd finished sending her memories.

I patted her cheek with my paw. 'No tears, sis, please.'

She rubbed her eyes with her hand. 'Stay as long as you need, I'll stall my twin as long as I can.' She stood and carried me into the temple, explaining the problem to her pet baka as she went.

* * *

An all too familiar source of anger woke me.

"Where is my mate? I know she is here." Hiei's growl reached my earsit sounded like he was right outside the door.

"Brother, please. She needs this time alone, to come to terms with her new race. Three days, and not a moment of it to just process." Yukina's voice was softer, pleading.

"She never said..." Hiei's voice got soft, and I heard a thump, like he sat down hard on the floor. "It hurts, in my heart. I've been hurting since she ran away."

I mewed at the door. Yukina opened it. "Are you sure?" she asked.

I just moved to crawl into Hiei's lap. 'I'm here, love.'

He lifted me to face level. 'You left our guests. Without a word.'

I could sense Yukina making a retreat to give us privacy. 'I was having a really bad case of culture shock, dear. Its not like I've been a demon my whole life like you and Kurama.' I tapped his nose with my paw.

'You used to train yourself to exhaustion, how is this different?'

'I trained to protect the three worlds from the bitch getting her way. I did that. Fighting just to fight, it goes against everything I've believed in for years.'

'Is that why you got pissed? And reverted to your human form?'

'Put me down.'

He complied. As soon as his hands were clear, I shifted to my demon form. Thankfully, my dress was still on when I shifted back. My hair, not so much. "Honey, I have not had so much as a breather since I woke up three days ago. Its like, oh shit, I gotta fight. Then, oh shit, I gotta move again. Then, oh shit, I gotta play fight and NOT kill the demons cutting my mate." I sat down next to him. "I didn't ask for this. I don't want to be asked by everyone and their brother to fight. I don't give a shit who is stronger, I just care about keeping your spiky head on your shoulders."

"You should have told me, I would have excused you from the feast. I'm sorry, I should have asked when I felt your energy start to go into flux." he hugged me tight. "Can we go back now? I swear we will discuss this, and give you time off after we finish the political bullshit."

I nuzzled his shoulder. "I guess."

He picked me up and flitted us back to the castle.

* * *

The room fell silent when we walked back in and took our places again. Hiei sat. I remained standing, gathering my courage to make my announcement. I hate public speaking.

"Ok, listen up, because I will only say this once. The ONLY demon on my training schedule for the next month is my lord mate. I MIGHT start scheduling other demons after the month is up, but I make no promises, because up until a few days ago, I was a human witch who lived by the law of harm none. I WILL destroy anything that seeks to harm me and mine, but otherwise, I will not fight until I get used to this whole being a demon thing. That is all, you can go back to feasting." I glared around the room, daring someone to cross me.

"Forgive my rudeness." King Enki said after I'd sat back down. "I was not aware of the situation."

"All of demon world is either watching in fear or trying to kill me, but nobody seemed to notice when the bitch disappeared." I sighed, picking up my goblet and taking a drink.

Koku leaned around her mate. "Yusuke was worse when he tried to process the demon thing."

"I at least have the bitch's memories, which helps for things like this. Its just the getting used to the new way of doing things that is hard." I pushed the food around on my plate pretending to eat.

Hiei wasn't fooled. He reached over and snagged a choice tidbit off the large serving plate in front of us and held it to my mouth. "Eat please."

I allowed him to feed me the morsel. Several female sighs could be heard.

"Will you eat?" Hiei asked softly.

"I'm not hungry." I said, pushing my plate away.

He dragged the plate closer to himself. "Then I will be forced to feed you." He held another morsel to my lips. "Shifting forms like that uses a lot of energy that you must replace."

I gave him a crooked grin. "Our subjects think we're terribly cute, you feeding me and all."

"I would be a bad mate, and a worse lord, if I let my onna starve herself in a fit of pique." he continued to feed me for the rest of the feast.

* * *

The next day, for once, both of us slept in. I tried to sit up and stretch, but Hiei's arms locked tight around my waist. I giggled.

"If you are planning to run off to the human world as a tabby again, I will be displeased." He grumbled sleepily.

"You mean more than your usual displeased demeanor?" I teased. "Relax, love, I just wanted to stretch."

"Good. We have nothing to do today, and I wish to spend the time close to you."

I gasped. "Oh my dear gods, the world is ending. We have nothing to do."

He began to tickle my sides. He'd learned I was ticklish during our time as fortune-tellers, and used it to get me to shut up on more than one occasion.

I giggled and tried to squirm out of his reach. "Hiei! Stoppit!"

He stopped and half pinned me down. "I am allowed to take a day off every now and again. Especially when my mate goes crazy and decides to run off, on her own, as a cat."

I arched my eyebrow at him. "Being a cat was perfectly safe. If a certain silver fox hadn't been following me, I would have been completely anonymous."

"My sister knew who you were."

"Because she was close enough to see my eyes."

"She was very adamant that I leave you alone."

"You know I have to have some alone time when I need to process things. Did you forget that fast?"

He growled slightly. "I did not forget."

I kissed him hard. 'Then shut up about it.'

He quickly claimed dominance in the kiss.

* * *

We didn't show ourselves in the main areas of the castle till very late in the afternoon. I was walking through the front hall after talking to Maya about dinner.

"Hey! Finally! You two took your time to kiss and make up." Yusuke said, falling into step beside me.

"You're such an asshole, zombie." I rolled my eyes at him.

"And you are an emotional wreck of a flighty kitty. But at least your tantrums are quiet, I didn't even know you were gone until Kurama came back to apologize." Yusuke laughed and elbowed my ribs.

"Well, I had culture shock. I'm sure you remember your first days as a demon."

He heaved a huge sigh. "Yeah, except I was kinda off for a couple of years."

"I actually almost stayed a cat." I whispered.

He ruffled my hair. "You are such a cute little kitty." Yusuke grinned and gave me a lewd wink.

"Oi! Enough of that! Ew, perv." I shoved him a little.

I felt the ghost of the mental tirade Hiei launched at the former detective from several rooms away. Yusuke's face screwed up in pain.

"Please make your mate stop yelling at me." He fell to his knees from the force of Hiei's scolding.

"Hmmm, maybe." I rubbed invisible whiskers on my chin.

"Please?" The zombie's nose began to bleed heavily.

'Oni-sama, that's enough. You're going to make him bleed to death in our hall way.' I smirked at the zombie on the floor.

Yusuke slowly stood, and his nose stopped gushing. "Thanks. I, um, gotta go find Keiko..."

I giggled to myself watching him run off.

'Hn, baka. It is mating season for his kind.' Hiei's annoyed voice floated through my brain.

I rolled my eyes. 'Dumbass. He should know the schedule by now.' I wandered off to find my mate again.

* * *

Taadaa! The end! I'm proud of me! Review!


	29. Epilogue

Hello again my dears. The epilogue is here at last. You should all go say thank you to The Dark Wyvern for being a pest and demanding the story go on. Take this as a lesson, never let your koibito read your stories before you've finished posting it. (he's gonna read it and pout at me after, but that is a risk I am willing to take. Love you, my darling Wyvern!)

if you have reviewed, thank you. If you have favourited or alerted, thank you. If you're reading this story and stuck it out to the bitter end, THANK YOU! you deserve a prize. Have a cookie. -hands all readers cookies shaped like hiei and kurama-

I own naught but the plot and my OC's.

* * *

The month passed by quickly. Almost too quickly for my tastes, but I didn't know how to stop time. Enki declined to take first go, as he'd almost gotten hit by a stray fireball while watching Hiei and I. I said I was sorry for singeing his arm.

Yomi took his spot. He fought well, rather a lot like the fox.

"The fox and I were in a band of thieves together, Lady." Yomi chuckled as he sent punches at my face.

"Kurama tells me nothing of himself, Lord." I shot right back, returning kicks for punching.

Yomi flipped and dodged as if he could see. "Kurama is the reason I am blind."

"He what?" In my shock, I neglected to mark his position, and took a foot to my head for it.

I sat up and shook my head. Hiei was between Yomi and I, growling.

"Lady Feochadan, are you alright?" Yomi asked me. He was nervous, and, surprisingly, worried that he'd really damaged me.

"I am just fine, Yomi, thank you for asking. Hiei, you can help me up now." I replied.

Hiei turned and hauled me up. "You are hurt."

I rolled my eyes. "Not badly. Ease up, oni-san." I turned to Yomi. "I'm sorry, you shocked me. Now I think our match is over, and I'll have to go and be fussed over for the rest of the day."

"It is fine, Lady. It is always shocking when I tell those who have only met the red head. I betrayed him, and I was punished. He could have killed me, but I lived, and learned and the experience has made me who I am today." Yomi chuckled.

"You should have waited, goat." Hiei growled.

"Go, coddle your woman. I will not fight her again." Yomi smiled and walked away.

I allowed Hiei to be all growly and possessive for all of two minutes. "Seriously, Hiei? He's halfway home by now."

"He knocked you out, onna. You know how I feel about that." Hiei grumbled. He crossed his arms and moved away slightly to pout. I could still feel worry in him.

"Yes, love, I know. Sometimes accidents happen." I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and nipped at the mate mark on his neck.

"When is your next meeting with Nathair?" He moved his head to get me to stop.

I giggled at the power I still had over him. Not that I'd use it for evil, mind you. Well, ok, only the naughtiest kind of evil. "Not till tomorrow dear. What did you have in mind?"

Once again, he was interrupted by something wanting a fight. It was creepy as hell, like a spider on steroids. And its legs were just as disproportionately spindly.

"What do you want, Rogan?" Hiei growled. He pushed me back a pace.

I rolled my eyes.

"I want my match." The spider demon announced. "I am scheduled for the fight after Yomi."

"She is done sparring for the day." Hiei growled.

"Seriously, Hiei?" I gave him a look.

'You are injured, shut up and let me handle it.' I could feel the glare he was giving me.

"I demand my fight." Rogan stomped a spindly foot.

"Excuse me, my territory, my fortress, my damn rules. I am not fighting again today." I growled. The thing seemed determined to piss me the hell off.

"The lady has spoken, come back tomorrow." Hiei said and turned away.

The spider demon hit Hiei in the head and sent him sprawling. "You will not get in my way, imiko."

I saw red. "Nobody hits my mate when his back is turned." I threw a jolt of lightning at the bastard. "And cowards get put down."

I threw myself at the spindly-legged thing. At least, I hoped he was the one in the middle. My vision doubled, then tripled and back again. My head spun.

The spidery bastard caught a few hits, and took a beating before managing to throw me into the wall of the main keep. I couldn't move, too many hits to the head, and far too dizzy.

I saw Hiei charge the spider demon. He roared his challenge and his blade flashed. It was seriously trippy to see him fight in a kaleidoscope effect.

In the end, the spider turned tail and ran as fast as his remaining unbroken legs could carry him.

Hiei picked me up. "Onna, you will be the death of me one day."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned into him. "I'm good with that, so long as we don't have to watch each other die."

* * *

A few weeks later, I was finally allowed to move around the keep on my own. I gathered up some coinage, and started out for the market. The anniversary of the fight with Niroth was in a day or so, and I wanted to wear something new and Makai style formal to the dinner we were planning to celebrate. My oni-san could be quite the romantic when he put his mind to it.

I didn't even make it to the gate. Hiei was waiting for me in the courtyard.

"There has been a summons from Koenma." He said. "The brat has asked for you specifically."

"That never sounds good." I sighed. "Lets go then."

* * *

The rest of the detective gang were already waiting for us in Koenma's office.

"Ah, good. I had meant to see you again under better circumstances, but, here we all are." The young godlet paced over to a screen on the wall. "There has been an incursion to the Human world. The target may, unfortunately, be very familiar to you, Pyro."

I growled at the image we were shown. Three demons trailed my only remaining friend from my life before demons. I hadn't seen her since they attacked us in a park about six months before I'd gone into demon protection.

"When did this happen?" Hiei sounded angry as well.

"It is happening as we speak. For once, I can get you there in time." A portal opened to the left of the godlet.

The boys ran through.

I caught an idea bug. "Koenma, this may take a while, and I haven't got anything stashed still as far as human cash." I handed over my pouch of coins. "How long will this help me take care of her?"

Koenma took the pouch to his desk and dumped it out. "Quite a while, actually." He reached in his desk drawer and pulled out what looked like a wad of hundreds.

I took it. "Damn, that's a lot of Benjamins. Thanks."

I jumped down the rabbit hole and hoped there was still a fight when I got there.

* * *

Yes, this is the end. unless you think the fight ought to be posted here. thank you to my dearest darling The Dark Wyvern for being a last minute beta reader on this chapter. for all of his pesky behaviour, he's still my angel. (halo held up by devil horns, of course.)

review please. and thank you for putting up with me for this whole story. any title suggestions for the sequel?


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